Introduction
Coding numbers in computers

Computer processors work exclusively with binary digits (0,1) called bits. In order to represent numbers, they must be encoded. The number of bits used to encode a number determines the quantity of numbers that can be represented: with N bits, we can have 2 ^N different numbers. The most commonly used types of encoding are integer and floating-point numbers, found in all general-purpose processors, as well as a number of representations found in more specialized processors, such as signal processors.

32-bit general-purpose processors have 32-bit integers, as well as 16-bit and 8-bit subsets, and 32-bit and 64-bit floats. 64-bit general-purpose processors add 64-bit integers to the above list.

To cope with the constraints of performance, energy consumption and memory occupation, 16-bit and 8-bit...