University of Ghana Business School

DATA REPRESENTATION

Dr. E. Afful-Dadzie
What is Data?
■ "Information that is either digital or analogue and can be manipulated to
produce a result.“
■ There are two main categories of data: Digital Data - Data that is stored
and manipulated on a computer.
■ Analogue Data - Data which is gathered without a computer.
■ Data can exist in many forms. For example:
– Text (letters/words)
– Numbers (whole numbers, decimals, currency)
– Date
 Analogue
■ Definition: "Analogue data use values that change very smoothly."
■ A good example of this is an analogue clock. An analogue clock shows the time with a
smoothly moving seconds hand. The change is continuous.
■ Sound is also a good example of analogue data. Sound waves change in a very smooth way.

■ All analogue devices use analogue data. Examples of analogue devices include:
 Digital Data
■ Definition: "Digital data jumps from one value to the next in a step by step sequence
(Discrete data) .“
■ A good example of this is a digital clock. A digital clock jumps from one second to
another in clear steps. The change is not smooth or continuous.
■ The name "Digital" is given to all devices that store and process data in the form of
'digits' (numbers).
■ These digits are known as 'Binary'.
 Analogue and Digital Conversion
■ There are two types of data converters:
1. Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC)
2. Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC)
■ If we try to attach an analogue device (like a microphone) to a computer we will need to
convert the analogue data to digital before the computer can use it.
■ If we want to use analogue values with a digital device or digital values with an analogue
device we need to use data conversion.
■ If we want to listen to digital music (like mp3's) we would need to attach an analogue
device such as loud speakers or headphones to our computer.
 Analogue Vs Digital
■ In our everyday lives, we communicate with each other
using analogue data.
■ Analogue data is an approximation of reality; digital data
tends to be exact
■ Analogue data use values that change very smoothly.
■ Digital data jumps from one value to the next in a step by
step sequence called Discrete
 Data Representation
In our everyday lives, we communicate with each other using
analogue data.

This data takes the form of:

• Sound
• Images
• Letters
• Numbers
• Colours etc.

This type of data can vary and because of this, it cannot be easily
represented in a computer.
 What is Binary?
■ All computer data is really a number known as a Binary Digit (often
shortened to just binary).
■ Binary is represented by the numbers 1 and 0.
■ Different combinations of these 1's and 0's are used to represent all
the different kinds of data that can be stored and processed within a
digital device (such as a computer).
■ For example:-
■ The word 'Hello' is stored as the binary combination of
0100100001100101011011000110110001101111
 Data Representation
Computer - electronic device - handles binary data
Transistors represent the binary data.
• Transistor is on - binary 1
• Transistor off - binary 0.
Using transistors, binary codes are devised to represent numbers,
letters, colours, sounds etc.
In this binary system, each 0 or 1 is called a binary digit (Bit). By
placing them side by side, we can create binary codes

0 1 Bit
10 2 Bit
1011 4 Bit
10010011 8 Bit
 Data Representation
If we extend this system, we could use it to represent
numbers. From the right-hand side, the binary digits
could represent the numbers 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2,
1 etc.
 Data Representation
■ Binary numbering system
– Base-2
– Built from ones and zeros
– Each position is a power of 2
1101 = 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20
■ Decimal numbering system
– Base-10
– Each position is a power of 10
3052 = 3 x 103 + 0 x 102 + 5 x 101 + 2 x 100

11
 Data Representation
 From the numbers example, we can see that the computer
can handle data as long as it is presented in binary form.
 The analogue numbers have become digital data. If it was
possible to create codes to represent all our analogue data, it
would appear as groups of 0’s and 1’s and could be
converted to digital data.
 The computer could then handle this data.
 This conversion process is called digitising data:

101101001001000010010001000
RED
100001011010101010101111000
101010101010001010011111001
Is there anybody
there, said the
010100101010101010101010011
traveller, 100110010101111010100101010
knocking on the 001010101001010010100101000
100011
 Data Representation
Word-procressing is the most basic type of data processing. In
Wordprocessing, the keyboard holds the character set which
includes:

• The alphabet in upper and lower case

• The numbers from 0 to 9
• Misc. characters - space, &, %, £, €, ½, ? Etc.

To digitise these characters, a sequence of 8-Bits (0’s and 1’s) is

allocated to each character. This sequence of 8-Bits is called a
Byte.
A Byte is the amount of storage required to store one character
from the character set.
 Data Representation
 It is possible to represent 256 characters using this system.
• A Byte sequence is assigned to each character on the keyboard and there are lots to spare for
special characters etc.
 These Byte codes can be set in a table to produce the American Standard Code for
Information Interchange (ASCII).
If a character from the table is typed into the computer, it will occupy 1 Byte of the
computers main memory (RAM) and if it is saved to a disk drive, it will occupy 1 Byte of
storage space.

Therefore:

• T4 is 2 Bytes long
• Technology is 10 Bytes long
• Introduction to Computing is ? Bytes long (the spaces count)
 Data Representation
In the ASCII table, the bit sequences (codes) are listed in
Binary and each code is named according to its Decimal value:

The 256 codes are divided into sections:

• 0 to 31 - System codes - Esc (27), Backspace (8)

• 32 to 127 - Lower ACSII - common keyboard
characters.
• 128 to 254 - Higher ASCII - Newer codes like the €
and language symbols
 Data Representation
When the computer keyboard is being used, the ASCII codes
are sent to the computer as the characters are typed:

0101010000110100

The computer combines the stream of Bits into Bytes:

01010100 and 00110100

These are then converted to ASCII numbers (84 and 52) and
displayed on screen:

T4
 Data Representation
Not all data can be represented as characters
To process images and sound in a computer, they must be represented
as binary codes.

An image can be represented as a map of binary codes

If the image is zoomed, the individual pixels can be seen as either black or
white.

In a black and white image, only 1 Bit is needed to represent each pixel as
the pixel can only be black or white.
Data Representation
This is called a Bitmapped image as the bits used to represent
the image are arranged into a grid of Bits

A more complex image is shown below and the grid and map of
Bits is clearly visible:

The only difference between this and a colour image is the

number of Bits needed to represent each pixel

In 24-bit colour, 24 Bits are needed for each pixel etc

Data Sizes
Bit 1 bit 1/8
Nibble 4 bits 1/2 (rare)
Byte 8 bits 1
Kilobyte (KB) 1,024 bytes 1,024
Megabyte (MB) 1,024 kilobytes 1,048,576
Gigabyte (GB) 1,024 megabytes 1,073,741,824
Terrabyte (TB) 1,024 gigabytes 1,099,511,627,776
Petabyte (PB) 1,024 terrabytes 1,125,899,906,842,624
Exabyte (EB) 1,024 petabytes 1,152,921,504,606,846,976
Zettabyte (ZB) 1,024 exabytes 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424

Yottabyte (YB) 1,024 zettabytes 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176

Bit 1 bit 1/8
Data Sizes
Byte A single letter, like "A."
Kilobyte A 14-line e-mail. A pretty lengthy paragraph of text.
Megabyte A good sized novel. Shelley's "Frankenstein" is only about four-fifths of a megabyte.
The multi-player version of Diablo II, installed. About 300 MP3s. About 40 minutes of video at
Gigabyte
DVD quality (this varies, depending on maker). A CD holds about three-fourths of a gigabyte.
About thirty and a half weeks worth of high-quality audio. Statistically, the average person has
Terrabyte
spoken about this much by age 25.
The amount of data available on the web in the year 2000 is thought to occupy 8 petabytes
Petabyte
(theorized by Roy Williams).
In a world with a population of 3 billion, all information generated anually in any form would
Exabyte occupy a single exabyte. Supposedly, everything ever said by everyone who is or has lived on the
planet Earth would take up 5 exabytes.
Three hundred trillion MP3s; Two hundred billion DVDs. If every person living in the year 2000
Zettabyte had had a 180 gigabyte hard drive filled completely with data, all the data on all those drives
would occupy 1 zettabyte.
Byte A single letter, like "A."
Kilobyte A 14-line e-mail. A pretty lengthy paragraph of text.
Real World Applications – Internet Data
■ On the Internet, speed is measured in bits per second (bps). A kilobit per second
(kbps) delivers 1000 bits per second and a megabit per second (Mbps) is
1,000,000 bits per second.
■ Download speed is the time it takes for your computer to access a webpage from a
server. Downloading documents, purchasing songs or streaming videos are all
examples of downloads. So, with a download speed of up to 50 Mbps you can
download a picture more eight times faster than you could with 6 Mbps DSL service
Internet Data
What Can We Do with 1 GB of Data?

The following table provides an example of a combination of the activities that may consume 2 GB of data in
a month -

Activities Frequency of Activities Per Day

Send or receive email (without attachment) 1000 emails
Send or receive email (with attachment) 400 emails
Streaming music 50 minutes
Streaming video 25 minutes
Web browsing 250 pages
Download songs 20 songs
Social media post with photo upload 100 posts

*depends on quality of data and price

 Internet Data
Activities Data Consumed (for reference only)
Send one email (without attachment) 15 kB
Send one email with medium quality compressed photo attachment 300 kB
Upload one social media post with photo 500 kB
Browse one webpage 1 MB
Download a one-minute compressed music or streaming music file 1 MB
Download one minute of streaming low definition video 3 MB
Download one game or song 4 MB
Download one minute of high definition video 10 MB
Exercises
Word Problems Solution

Alice has 600 MB of data. Bob has 2000 MB of

data. Will it all fit on Alice's 4 GB flash drive?

Alice has 100 small images, each of which is

500 KB. How much space do they take up
overall in MB?
Bob has been notified by his data provider that
he has only 5MB of data left. He has to send 40
emails at 15KB each, 10 images at 55KB and 1
video file at 300KB. Is his data size enough for
these activities?
Real World Application –Storage
■ Do you remember the days of diskettes?
■ Hard drive capacity has increased 50-million-fold since 1956. It took 26 years to
create a 1 GB hard drive, but between 2007 and 2011, hard drives quadrupled in
size from 1 TB to 4 TB. Within the next ten years, 20 TB hard drives may even
become commonplace.
Real-World Application – Memory (RAM)
■ Memory sizes have evolved over the years.
■ Do you remember the memory size of Pentium I and II?

Pentium I - 128 MHz to 450 MHz

Pentium II - 233 MHz to 450 MHz
Pentium III – 512 MHZ
Kilobytes Megabytes Gigabytes
■ Kilobyte KB - about 1 thousand bytes
■ As we know, 1 byte is one typed letter
■ A small email text is about 2 KB
■ A 5 page paper might be 100 KB
■ Text does not take a lot of bytes to store compared to images or
video
■ Math: if you have N bytes, that's N/1000 KB
■ e.g. 23,000 bytes is about 23 KB
Megabyte
■ Megabyte (MB) - about 1 million bytes
■ aka about 1000 KB
■ MP3 audio is about 1 megabyte per minute
■ A high quality digital picture is about 2-5 megabytes
■ Math: if you have N KB, that's N/1000 MB
■ e.g. 45,400 KB is 45.4 MB
Computer Specification
What is the Specification?
■ Specification or simply ‘spec’ is a list of key components that make up the computer.
■ It is provided by retailers to help buyers decide which PC, and which combination of
features, they need.
■ When buying a PC, it is important to start by deciding what it is you want the PC to
do. This then informs what specification you actually need.
■ When reviewing a computer specification, the most important components to take
account of are the processor, the amount of RAM and the size of the hard drive as
these are central to the overall capability of the system.
Understanding Specification
■ Processor: Intel or AMD Processor (dual core @ 2.4 GHz (i5 or i7 Intel processor)
■ RAM: 4GB SDRAM
■ HDD (Internal): 500GB Hard Drive
■ External Storage: CD/DVD Drive, HDMI, USB
■ 17” Flat Screen Colour Monitor (for laptops)
■ Wireless adaptor (for laptops)
■ Integrated Graphics Card (IGB) - - 802.11ac
■ Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1
Notebooks-Configuration
Windows Apple
■ 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo • 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
■ 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM • 2GB DDR3 SDRAM
■ 300 GB Hard Drive • 250GB Hard Drive / SuperDrive
■ DVD+/-RW-CD-RW • DVD±RW/CD-RW
■ 15 in 1280 x 1024 Display • 13.3in 1280 x 800 Display /
NVIDIA
 32 or 64 bit?
■ You’ve probably seen 32-bit and 64-bit options available whenever you download an app, or
install a game.
■ Your PC might even have a sticker that says it has a 64-bit processor.
■ But does it really matter?
■ Nearly every PC nowadays has a 64-bit processor now
■ More bits means that data can be processed in larger chunks which also means more
accurately.
■ More bits means our system can point to or address a larger number of locations in
physical memory.
■ A 64-bit processor is capable of storing more computational values, including memory
addresses, which means it's able to access over four billion times as much physical
memory than a 32-bit processor.
References
■ https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs101/bits-gigabytes.html
■ https://www.ictlounge.com/html/analogue_and_digital_data.htm
■ https://datascience.berkeley.edu/big-data-infographic/
■ http://www.ncte.ie/documents/advicesheets/02PCspecificationsNov08.pdf