Which one of the following bits is reserved for the sign bit in signed

Which one of the following bits is reserved for the sign bit in signed-magnitude representation ?

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LSB

MSB

Exactly the middle of the bits

Second bit from left side

Answer is Right!

Answer is Wrong!

This question was previously asked in

UPSC CISF-AC-EXE – 2021

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In signed-magnitude representation, the most significant bit (MSB), which is the leftmost bit, is reserved to indicate the sign of the number. By convention, a 0 in the MSB indicates a positive number, and a 1 in the MSB indicates a negative number. The remaining bits represent the absolute magnitude of the number.

– Signed-magnitude representation uses one bit for the sign and the rest for magnitude.
– The MSB is the standard bit used for the sign.
– MSB = 0 for positive, MSB = 1 for negative.

Other signed number representations include one’s complement and two’s complement. While they also use the MSB as the sign bit, the way the magnitude of negative numbers is represented differs from signed-magnitude. Two’s complement is the most common method used in computers today because it simplifies arithmetic operations.

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