Potential Ambiguities of Terminology
One should be cautious when using the term two's complement, as it can mean either a number format or a mathematical operator. For example 0111 represents 7 in two's-complement notation, but the two's complement of 7 in a 4-bit system is actually 9 (1001 in binary), and 1001 is the two's complement representation of −7. The statement "convert x to two's complement" may be ambiguous, since it could describe either the process of representing x in two's-complement notation without changing its value, or the calculation of the two's complement, which is the arithmetic negative of x if two's complement representation is used.
Read more about this topic: Two's Complement
Famous quotes containing the word potential:
“There is a potential 4-6 percentage point net gain for the President [George Bush] by replacing Dan Quayle on the ticket with someone of neutral stature.”
—Mary Matalin, U.S. Republican political advisor, author, and James Carville b. 1946, U.S. Democratic political advisor, author. All’s Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, p. 205, Random House (1994)