A wildlife camera stores each photograph with a binary sequence number. Its current sequence number is 11110110. The ranger wants to write the number in den...
Question 1 Report
A wildlife camera stores each photograph with a binary sequence number. Its current sequence number is 11110110. The ranger wants to write the number in denary in a report and then identify what happens when the eight-bit limit is reached.
(a) Give the denary value of 11110110. [2]
(b) State the next binary sequence number after 11110110. [1]
(c) Explain what happens if an unsigned eight-bit counter is increased from 11111111 by one. [2]
Answer Details
(a) Add the place values whose bits are 1:
\[128+64+32+16+4+2=246\]
The denary value is 246. [2]
(b) Increasing the binary value by one changes the final 0 to 1, giving 11110111. [1]
(c) The greatest unsigned eight-bit value is 11111111, which is 255. Adding one exceeds the value range that eight bits can store. This is an overflow, and the counter wraps around to 00000000. [2]
Examination reminder: For an unsigned \(n\)-bit counter, the range is \(0\) to \(2^n-1\). After the maximum value, it returns to zero.
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