University of Baghdad Number System & Codes

College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3

Logic By Zainab Hassan
Digital Codes
1- Binary Coded Decimal (BCD):
When numbers, letters, or words are represented by a special group of
symbols, this is called encoding, and the group of symbols is called a code.
Probably one of the familiar codes is the Morse code, where series of dots and
dashes represent letters of the alphabet. We have seen that decimal numbers can be
represented by an equivalent binary number. The group of 0s and 1s in the binary
number can be thought of as a code representing the decimal number. When a
decimal number is represented by its equivalent binary number, we call it (straight
binary coding). We have seen that conversion between decimal and binary can
become long and complicated for large numbers. For this reason, a means of
encoding decimal numbers that combines some features of both the decimal and
binary systems is used in certain situations.
The 8421 code is a type of binary coded decimal (BCD) code. Binary coded
decimal means that each decimal digit, 0 though 9, is represented by a binary code
of 4 bits. The designation 8421 indicates the binary weights of the four bits
(23,22,21,20). The ease of conversion between 8421 code numbers and the familiar
decimal numbers is the main advantage of this code. All you have to remember are
the ten binary combinations that represent the ten decimal digits as shown in Table
(1). The 8421 code is the predominant BCD code, and when referring to BCD, it
always means the 8421 code unless otherwise stated.
Table (1)
Decimal digit 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
BCD 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001
1001

To illustrate the BCD code, take a decimal number such as 874. Each digit is
changed to its binary equivalent as follows:
8 7 4 Decimal

1000 0111 0100 BCD

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan
It’s also important to understand that a BCD number is not the same as a straight
binary number. A straight binary code takes the complete decimal number and
represents it in binary; the BCD code converts each decimal digit to binary
individually. To illustrate, take the number 137 and compare its straight binary and
BCD codes.
137(10) = 10001001(2) (Binary)
137(10) = 000100110111 (BCD)

The BCD code requires 12 bits while the straight binary code requires only 8
bits to represent 137. BCD is used in digital machines whenever decimal
information is either applied as inputs or displayed as outputs. Digital voltmeter,
frequency counters, and digital clocks, all use BCD because they display output
information in decimal. BCD is not often used in modern high speed digital
computers for the reason that the BCD code for a given decimal number requires
more bits than the straight binary code and is therefore less efficient. This is
important in digital computers because the number of places in memory where
these bits can be stored is limited.

Example: convert each of the following decimal numbers to BCD:

(a) 35 (b) 98 (c) 170 (d) 2469

3 5 9 8 1 7 0 2 4 6 9

0011 0101 1001 1000 0001 0111 0000 0010 0100 0110 1001

Example: convert each of the following BCD codes to decimal.

(a) 10000110 (b) 1001010001110000

10000110 1001010001110000

8 6 9 4 7 0

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan
2- Gray Code:
The gray code is un-weighted and is not an arithmetic code; that is, there are
no specific weights assigned to the bit positions. The important feature of the Gray
code is that it exhibits only a single bit change from one code number to the next.
Table (2) is a listing of the four bit gray code for decimal numbers 0 through 15.
Notice the single bit change between successive gray code numbers. For instance,
in going from decimal 3 to decimal 4, the gray code changes from 0010 to 0110,
while the binary code changes from 0011 to 0100, a change of three bits. The only
bit change is in the third bit from the right in the gray code; the other remain the
same.

Table (2)
Decimal Binary Gray Decimal Binary Gray
0 0000 0000 8 1000 1100
1 0001 0001 9 1001 1101
2 0010 0011 10 1010 1111
3 0011 0010 11 1011 1110
4 0100 0110 12 1100 1010
5 0101 0111 13 1101 1011
6 0110 0101 14 1110 1001
7 0111 0100 15 1111 1000

Binary-to-Gray Conversion:
Conversion between binary code and Gray code is sometimes useful. in the
conversion process, the following rules apply:
 The most significant bit (left-most) in the gray code is the same as the

corresponding MSB in binary number.

 Going from left to right, add each adjacent pair of binary code bits to get
the next gray code bit. Discard carry.

Example: convert the binary number 10110 to Gray code.

Step 1: the left-most Gray code digit is the same as the left-most binary code bit.

10110 (Binary)

1 (Gray)
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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan

Step 2: add the left-most binary code bit to the adjacent one:

1 + 0 110 (Binary)

1 1 (Gray)

Step 3: add the next adjacent pair:

1 0 + 1 10 (Binary)

1 1 1 (Gray)

Step 4: add the next adjacent pair and discard the carry:

1 0 1+10 (Binary)

1 1 1 0 (Gray)
Step 5: add the last adjacent pair:

1 0 1 1+0 (Binary)

1 1 1 0 1 (Gray)

Hence the Gray Code is 11101

Gray-to-Binary Conversion:

To convert from Gray code to binary, a similar method is used, but there are
some differences. The following rules apply:
 The most significant bit (left-most) in the binary code is the same as the

corresponding bit in the Gray code.

 Add each binary code bit generated to the gray code bit in the next
adjacent positions. Discard carry.

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan
Example: convert the Gray code number 11011 to binary.
Step 1: the left-most bits are the same.

11011 (Gray)

1 (Binary)

Step 2: add the last binary code bit just generated to the gray code bit in the next

position. Discard the carry.

1 1 011 (Gray)
+
1 0 (Binary)

Step 3: add the last binary code bit generated to the next Gray code bit.

1 1 0 11 (Gray)
+
1 0 0 (Binary)

Step 4: add the last binary code bit generated to the next Gray code bit.

1 1 0 1 1 (Gray)
+
1 0 0 1 (Binary)

Step 5: add the last binary code bit generated to the next Gray code bit. discard

carry.

1 1 0 1 1 (Gray)
+
1 0 0 1 0 (Binary)

Hence the final binary number is 10010

Example: (a) Convert the binary number 11000110 to Gray-code.

(b) Convert the Gray-code 10101111 to binary.

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan
(a) Binary to Gray code:-

1+1+0+0+0+1+1+0

1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1

(b) Gray code to Binary:-

1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1

1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

3- Excess-3 Code:
This is a digital code related to BCD that is derived by adding 3 to each
decimal digit and then converting the result of that addition to 4-bit binary. This
code is un-weighted. For instance, the excess-3 code for decimal 2 and 9 are:

2 9
+3 +3
5 (0101) 12 (1100)

The excess-3 code for each decimal digit is found by the same procedure. The
entire code is shown in Table (3).

Table (3)

Decimal BCD Excess-3

0 0000 0011

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan
1 0001 0100
2 0010 0101
3 0011 0110
4 0100 0111
5 0101 1000
6 0110 1001
7 0111 1010
8 1000 1011
9 1001 1100

Example: convert each of the following decimal number to Excess-3 code:

(a) 13 (b) 430
First, add 3 to each digit in the decimal number, and then convert each resulting
4-bit sum to its equivalent binary code.

1 3 4 3 0
+3 +3 +3 +3 +3
4 6 7 6 3

0100 0110 (Excess-3) 0111 0110 0011 (Excess-3)

4- Alphanumeric Code:
In order to be very useful, a computer must be capable of handling non-
numeric information. In other words, a computer must be able to recognize codes
that represent numbers, letters, and special characters. These codes are classified as
alphanumeric codes. The most common alphanumeric code, known as the
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), is used by most
minicomputer and microcomputer manufacturers.
The ASCII is a seven-bit code in which the decimal digits are represented by
the 8421 BCD code preceded by 011. The letters of the alphabet and other symbols
and instructions are represented by other code combinations, shown in Table (4).
For instance, the letter A is represented by 1000001 (4116), the comma by 0101100
(2C16) and the ETX (end of text) by 0000011 (0316).

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan

Table (4)

MSBS
LSBS
000 (0) 001 (1) 010 (2) 011 (3) 100 (4) 101 (5) 110 (6) 111 (7)
0000 NUL DLE SP 0 @ P ` p
0001 SOH DC1 ! 1 A Q a q
0010 STX DC2 “ 2 B R b r
0011 ETX DC3 # 3 C S c s
0100 EOT DC4 $ 4 D T d t
0101 ENQ NAK % 5 E U e u
0110 ACK SYN & 6 F V f v
0111 BEL ETB ‘ 7 G W g w
1000 BS CAN ( 8 H X h x
1001 HT EM ) 9 I Y i y
1010 LF SUB * : J Z j z
1011 VT EXC + ; K [ k {
1100 FF FS , < L \ l
1101 CR GS - = M ] m }
1110 SO RS . > N n ~
1111 SI US / ? O _ o DEL

Example: determine the codes that are entered from the computer’s keyboard
when the following basic program statement is typed in. also express each in
hexadecimal notation.
20 PRINT “A=”;X

Character ASCII Hexadecimal

2 0110010 32
0 0110000 30
Space 0100000 20
P 1010000 50
R 1010010 52
I 1001001 49
N 1001110 4E
T 1010100 54
Space 0100000 20
“ 0100010 22
A 1000001 41
= 0111101 3D

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University of Baghdad Number System & Codes
College of Engineering/ Dept. of Computer Engineering Lecture No. 3
Logic By Zainab Hassan
“ 0100010 22
; 0111011 3B
X 1011000 58

Review Questions:
1. How many bits are required to represents the decimal numbers in the range
from 0 to 999 using straight binary code? Using BCD code?
2. What is the binary weight of each 1 in the following BCD numbers?
(a) 0010 (b) 1000 (c) 0001 (d) 0100
3. Convert the following binary numbers to Gray codes?
(a) 1100 (b) 1010 (c) 11010
4. Convert the following Gray codes to binary?
(a) 1000 (b) 1010 (c) 11101
5. Convert the following decimal numbers to Excess-3 code?
(a) 3 (b) 87 (c) 349
6. Convert decimal 928 to Excess-3?