How are signed integers represented in binary system?

Signed integers in binary are usually represented using two's complement. This allows for convenient arithmetic operations and unambiguous sign determination.

Key points:

• The most significant bit (MSB) indicates the sign: 0 — positive, 1 — negative.
• For negative numbers, all bits are inverted and 1 is added to the least significant bit.

For example, for an 8-bit number:

• +5 in binary: 00000101
• -5 in two's complement: invert 00000101 → 11111010, add 1 → 11111011

This representation simplifies addition and subtraction operations at the hardware level.