The Representation Of Numbers; Negative Numbers - HP 33s User Manual

The Representation of Numbers

Although the display of a number is converted when the base is changed, its
stored form is not modified, so decimal numbers are not truncated — until they are
used in arithmetic calculations.
When a number appears in hexadecimal, octal, or binary base, it is shown as a
right–justified integer with up to 36 bits (12 octal digits or 9 hexadecimal digits).
Leading zeros are not displayed, but they are important because they indicate a
positive number. For example, the binary representation of 125
which is the same as these 36 digits:
000000000000000000000000000001111101

Negative Numbers

The leftmost (most significant or "highest") bit of a number's binary representation
is the sign bit; it is set (1) for negative numbers. If there are (undisplayed) leading
zeros, then the sign bit is 0 (positive). A negative number is the 2's complement of
its positive binary number.
Keys:
¹ ¶
546 {  }
z
¹ ¶
{  }
Ö Ö
¹ ¶
{  }
10–4
Base Conversions and Arithmetic
1111101
Display:
 Enters a positive, decimal
 2's complement (sign
 Binary version;
 Displays the leftmost

is displayed as:
10
Description:
number; then converts it to
hexadecimal.
changed).
indicates more digits.
window; the number is
negative since the highest
bit is 1.
Negative decimal number.