Two's Complement: Addition Overflow?

Question

I am trying to add 24 to 10 in 2's complement. I found 24 in 2's complement to be: 011000 and 10 in 2's complement to be 001010. When I add the two together I get: 100010. The result is a negative number. Is this an example of overflow? Is it not possible to add 24 to 10 in 2's complement?

comingstorm · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-26 17:37:15Z

3

If you only have 6 bits, then yes, it is an overflow. The reason is that 6-bit 2's complement can only store numbers -32..31 and your desired result, 34, is outside that range.

If you had, say, 8 bits instead, your result would be 00100010, which would not be a negative number, or an overflow.

Adding two positive numbers and coming up with a negative result, or two negative numbers and coming up with a non-negative result, is a definitive indicator of signed 2's complement overflow.

edited Jan 26, 2016 at 17:37

answered Jan 26, 2016 at 16:18

comingstorm

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