EECS 1520 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Numerical Analysis, Natural Number, Negative Number

• School: York University
• Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Course: EECS 1520
• Professor: John Hofbauer

Document Summary

Information can be represented in one of two ways: analog or digital. Analog data: continuous representation, analogues to the actual information it represents. Digital data: discrete representation, breaking the information up into separate elements. A mercury thermometer exemplifies analog data as it continually rises and falls in direct proportion to the temperature. The mercury in a thermometer provides infinite precision. Our reading is limited only by our ability to measure its value. Information is often represented in an infinite range. Computers are finite and deterministic (i. e. not random) They can only operate on a fixed amount of data at a time. The amount and type of data must be known ahead of time. Represent enough of the range to meet our computational needs. The basis for representing digital information is the binary digit (bit), with the unit symbol b. A bit holds one of two values: 0 or 1. Often combined in groups of eight to represent data.