How data are represented in memory?? Discuss tue representation schemes for numerical and alphabetical data.
Answers
Computers are classified according to functionality, physical size and purpose.
Functionality, Computers could be analog, digital or hybrid. Digital computers process data that is in discrete form whereas analog computers process data that is continuous in nature. Hybrid computers on the other hand can process data that is both discrete and continuous.
In digital computers, the user input is first converted and transmitted as electrical pulses that can be represented by two unique states ON and OFF. The ON state may be represented by a “1” and the off state by a “0”.The sequence of ON’S and OFF’S forms the electrical signals that the computer can understand.
A digital signal rises suddenly to a peak voltage of +1 for some time then suddenly drops -1 level on the other hand an analog signal rises to +1 and then drops to -1 in a continuous version.
Although the two graphs look different in their appearance, notice that they repeat themselves at equal time intervals. Electrical signals or waveforms of this nature are said to be periodic.Generally,a periodic wave representing a signal can be described using the following parameters
Amplitude(A)