Getting a second bit of the internal representation of the number - c

Please, explain why by doing as follows I'll get a second bit of the number stored in i in it's internal representation.
(i & 2) / 2;

Doing i & 2 masks out all but the second bit in i. [1]
That means the expression evaluates to either 0 or 2 (binary 00 and 10 respectively).
Dividing that by 2 gives either 0 or 1 which is effectively the value of the second bit in i.
For example, if i = 7 i.e. 0111 in binary:
i & 2 gives 0010.
0010 is 2 in decimal.
2/2 gives 1 i.e. 0001.
[1] & is the bitwise AND in C. See here for an explanation on how bitwise AND works.

i & 2 masks out all but the second bit.
Dividing it by 2 is the same as shifting down 1 bit.
e.g.
i = 01100010
(i & 2) == (i & 00000010) = 00000010
(i & 2) / 2 == (i & 2) >> 1 = 00000001

The & operator is bitwise AND: for each bit, the result is 1 only if the corresponding bits of both arguments are 1. Since the only 1 bit in the number 2 is the second-lowest bit, a bitwise AND with 2 will force all the other bits to 0. The result of (i & 2) is either 2 if the second bit in i is set, or 0 otherwise.
Dividing by 2 just changes the result to 1 instead of 2 when the second bit of i is set. It isn't necessary if you're just concerned with whether the result is zero or nonzero.

2 is 10 in binary. & is a bitwise conjunction. So, i & 2 gets you the second-from-the-end bit of i. And dividing by 2 is the same as bit-shifting by 1 to the right, which gets the value of the last bit.
Actually, shifting to the right would be better here, as it clearly states your intent. So, this code would be normally written like this: (i & 0x02) >> 1

Related

c bitwise operation to match description

I'm supposed to match the worded descriptions to the bitwise operations. W is one less than the total bits in a's and b's data structure. So if a is 32 bits long W is 31 Here are the worded descriptions:
1. One’s complement of a
2. a.
3. a&b.
4. a * 7.
5. a / 4 .
6. (a<0)?1:-1.
and here are the bitwise descriptions:
a. ̃( ̃a | (b ˆ (MIN_INT + MAX_INT)))
b. ((aˆb)& ̃b)|( ̃(aˆb)&b)
c. 1+(a<<3)+ ̃a
d. (a<<4)+(a<<2)+(a<<1)
e. ((a<0)?(a+3):a)>>2
f. a ˆ (MIN_INT + MAX_INT)
g. ̃((a|( ̃a+1))>>W)&1
h. ̃((a >> W) << 1)
i. a >> 2
I have a few of them solved namely:
a. ̃( ̃a | (b ˆ (MIN_INT + MAX_INT))) = a & b
b. ((aˆb)& ̃b)|( ̃(aˆb)&b) = a
c. 1+(a<<3)+ ̃a = 7 * a
d. (a<<4)+(a<<2)+(a<<1) = 16*a + 4*a + 2*a = 22*a
e. e. ((a<0)?(a+3):a)>>2 = (a<0)?(a/4 + 3/4) : a/4 = a/4 + ((a<0)?(3/4:0)
f. a ˆ (MIN_INT + MAX_INT) = ~a
i. a >> 2 = a/4
So basically all I need help with are g and h
g. ̃((a|( ̃a+1))>>W)&1
h. ̃((a >> W) << 1)
If you wouldn't mind could you also provide an explanation if you could?
I think this is what is going on with g:
g. ̃((a|( ̃a+1))>>W)&1 = ~((a|(two's complement of a) >>W)&1
= ~((a|sign of two's complement of a) &1 = ~(-a)&1
but this could be 1 or 0 so I don't think I did this right.
and for this one:
h. ̃((a >> W) << 1) = ~((sign of a) << 1) = ~((sign of a)*2)
and I don't know where to go from there...
Thank you for your help!!!
For g, consider that (a|~a) sets all bits to 1, so:
~((a|~a) >> W) & 1
~(all_ones >> W) & 1
~1 & 1
0
The only way adding 1 to ~a could possibly affect this result is if the addition flipped the most significant bit of ~a (due to the right shift by W). That can only happen if a is 0 or 2^W. In the latter case, we will get the same result as above because the top bit of (a|X) will always be set. However, when a is 0 ~a+1 (0's twos complement) is also 0 and the final result of the entire expression will instead be 1.
Therefore, g is 1 when a is zero, otherwise it is 0 (i.e. - g is equivalent to the C expression a == 0). That seemingly doesn't match any of your worded descriptions. Indeed, I don't see how any expression (X & 1) possibly matches any of your worded descriptions. None of your worded descriptions matches an expression that evaluates to only 0 or 1 (for all values of a, b).
For h, consider that if a is negative, then its top most bit is set. Because a is signed, right shifting it 31 positions drags the sign bit across all 32 bits of a. Then left shifting it one position sets the least significant bit to 0. Complementing that yields 1. If a is non-negative, then its top most bit is 0 and right shifting that 31 positions yields 0. Left shifting that 1 position still yields 0. Complementing that yields all bits set, which is the 2's complement rep of -1. Therefore, h is equivalent to (a < 0 ? 1 : -1) or #6 of your worded descriptions.

What does this condition written in bitwise operators really do?

What does the following condition effectively check in C :
if(a & (1<<b))
I have been wracking my brains but I can't find a pattern.
Any help?
Also I have seen this used a lot in competitive programming, could anyone explain when and why this is used?
It is checking whether the bth bit of a is set.
1<<b will shift over a single set bit b times so that only one bit in the bth position is set.
Then the & will perform a bitwise and. Since we already know the only bit that is set in 1<<b, either it is set in a, in which case we get 1<<b, or it isn't, in which case we get 0.
In mathematical terms, this condition verifies if a's binary representation contains 2b. In terms of bits, this checks if b's bit of a is set to 1 (the number of the least significant bit is zero).
Recall that shifting 1 to the left by b positions produces a mask consisting of all zeros and a single 1 in position b counting from the right. A value of this mask is 2b.
When you perform a bitwise "AND" with such a mask, the result would be non-zero if, and only if, a's binary representation contains 2b.
Lets say for example a = 12 (binary: 1100) and you want to check that the third bit (binaries are read from right to left) is set to 1, to do that you can use & bitwise operator which work as following:
1 & 0 = 0
0 & 1 = 0
0 & 0 = 0
1 & 1 = 1
To check if the third bit in a is set to 1 we can do:
1100
0100 &
------
0100 (4 in decimal) True
if a = 8 (binary: l000) on the other hand:
1000
0100 &
------
0000 (0 in decimal) False
Now to get the 0100 value we can right shift 1 by 2 (1 << 2) wich will append two zeros from the right and we'll get 100, in binaries left trailing zeros doesn't change the value so 100 is the same as 0100.

Operator &~31 of C Program

I want to ask about C operator from this code. My friends ask it, but I never seen this operator:
binfo_out.biSizeImage = ( ( ( (binfo_out.biWidth * binfo_out.biBitCount) + 31) & ~31) / 8) * abs(out_bi.biHeight);
What this operator & ~31 mean? anybody can explain this?
The & operator is a bitwise AND. The ~ operator is a bitwise NOT (i.e. inverts the bits). As 31 is binary 11111, ~31 is binary 1111111....111100000 (i.e. a number which is all ones, but has five zeroes at the end). Anding a number with this thus clears the least significant five bits, which (if you think about it) rounds down to a multiple of 32.
What does the whole thing do? Note it adds 31 first. This has the effect that the whole thing rounds something UP to the next multiple of 32.
This might be used to calculate (for instance), how many bits are going to be used to store something if you can only use 32 bit quantities to store them, as there is going to be some wastage in the last 32 bit number.
31 in binary representation will be 11111 so ~31 = 5 zeros 00000 preceeded by 1's. so it is to make last 5 bits zero. i.e. to mask the last 5 bits.
here ~ is NOT operator i.e. it gives 1's complement. and & is AND operator.
& is the bitwise AND operator. It and's every corresponding bit of two operands on its both sides. In an example, it does the following:
Let char be a type of 8 bits.
unsigned char a = 5;
unsigned char b = 12;
Their bit representation would be as follows:
a --> 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 // 5
b --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 // 12
And the bitwise AND of those would be:
a & b --> 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 // 8
Now, the ~ is the bitwise NOT operator, and it negates every single bit of the operand it prefixes. In an example, it does the following:
With the same a from the previous example, the ~a would be:
~a --> 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 // 250
Now with all this knowledge, x & ~31 would be the bitwise AND of x and ~31, where the bit representation of ~31 looks like this:
~31 --> 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1110 0000 // -32 on my end
So the result would be whatever the x has on its bits, other than its last 5 bits.
& ~31
means bitwise and of the operand on the left of & and a bitwise not of 31.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitwise_operation
The number 31 in binary is 11111 and ~ in this case is the unare one's compliment operator. So assuming 4-byte int:
~31 = 11111111 11111111 11111111 11100000
The & is the bitwise AND operator. So you're taking the value of:
((out_bi.biWidth * out_bi.biBitCount) + 31)
And performing a bitwise AND with the above value, which is essentially blanking the 5 low-order bits of the left-hand result.

Can anyone explain why '>>2' shift means 'divided by 4' in C codes?

I know and understand the result.
For example:
<br>
7 (decimal) = 00000111 (binary) <br>
and 7 >> 2 = 00000001 (binary) <br>
00000001 (binary) is same as 7 / 4 = 1 <br>
So 7 >> 2 = 7 / 4 <br>
<br>
But I'd like to know how this logic was created.
Can anyone elaborate on this logic?
(Maybe it just popped up in a genius' head?)
And are there any other similar logics like this ?
It didn't "pop-up" in a genius' head. Right shifting binary numbers would divide a number by 2 and left shifting the numbers would multiply it by 2. This is because 10 is 2 in binary. Multiplying a number by 10(be it binary or decimal or hexadecimal) appends a 0 to the number(which is effectively left shifting). Similarly, dividing by 10(or 2) removes a binary digit from the number(effectively right shifting). This is how the logic really works.
There are plenty of such bit-twiddlery(a word I invented a minute ago) in computer world.
http://graphics.stanford.edu/~seander/bithacks.html Here is for the starters.
This is my favorite book: http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Delight-Edition-Henry-Warren/dp/0321842685/ref=dp_ob_image_bk on bit-twiddlery.
It is actually defined that way in the C standard.
From section 6.5.7:
The result of E1 >> E2 is E1 right-shifted E2 bit positions. [...]
the value of the result is the integral part of the quotient of E1 / 2E2
On most architectures, x >> 2 is only equal to x / 4 for non-negative numbers. For negative numbers, it usually rounds the opposite direction.
Compilers have always been able to optimize x / 4 into x >> 2. This technique is called "strength reduction", and even the oldest compilers can do this. So there is no benefit to writing x / 4 as x >> 2.
Elaborating on Aniket Inge's answer:
Number: 30710 = 1001100112
How multiply by 10 works in decimal system
10 * (30710)
= 10 * (3*102 + 7*100)
= 3*102+1 + 7*100+1
= 3*103 + 7*101
= 307010
= 30710 << 1
Similarly multiply by 2 in binary,
2 * (1001100112)
= 2 * (1*28 + 1*25 + 1*24 + 1*21 1*20)
= 1*28+1 + 1*25+1 + 1*24+1 + 1*21+1 1*20+1
= 1*29 + 1*26 + 1*25 + 1*22 + 1*21
= 10011001102
= 1001100112 << 1
I think you are confused by the "2" in:
7 >> 2
and are thinking it should divide by 2.
The "2" here means shift the number ("7" in this case) "2" bit positions to the right.
Shifting a number "1"bit position to the right will have the effect of dividing by 2:
8 >> 1 = 4 // In binary: (00001000) >> 1 = (00000100)
and shifting a number "2"bit positions to the right will have the effect of dividing by 4:
8 >> 2 = 2 // In binary: (00001000) >> 2 = (00000010)
Its inherent in the binary number system used in computer.
a similar logic is --- left shifting 'n' times means multiplying by 2^n.
An easy way to see why it works, is to look at the familiar decimal ten-based number system, 050 is fifty, shift it to the right, it becomes 005, five, equivalent to dividing it by 10. The same thing with shifting left, 050 becomes 500, five hundred, equivalent to multiplying it by 10.
All the other numeral systems work the same way.
they do that because shifting is more efficient than actual division. you're just moving all the digits to the right or left, logically multiplying/dividing by 2 per shift
If you're wondering why 7/4 = 1, that's because the rest of the result, (3/4) is truncated off so that it's an interger.
Just my two cents: I did not see any mention to the fact that shifting right does not always produce the same results as dividing by 2. Since right shifting rounds toward negative infinity and integer division rounds to zero, some values (like -1 in two's complement) will just not work as expected when divided.
It's because >> and << operators are shifting the binary data.
Binary value 1000 is the double of binary value 0100
Binary value 0010 is the quarter of binary value 1000
You can call it an idea of a genius mind or just the need of the computer language.
To my belief, a Computer as a device never divides or multiplies numbers, rather it only has a logic of adding or simply shifting the bits from here to there. You can make an algorithm work by telling your computer to multiply, subtract them up, but when the logic reaches for actual processing, your results will be either an outcome of shifting of bits or just adding of bits.
You can simply think that for getting the result of a number being divided by 4, the computer actually right shifts the bits to two places, and gives the result:
7 in 8-bit binary = 00000111
Shift Right 2 places = 00000001 // (Which is for sure equal to Decimal 1)
Further examples:
//-- We can divide 9 by four by Right Shifting 2 places
9 in 8-bit binary = 00001001
Shift right 2 places: 00000010 // (Which is equal to 9/4 or Decimal 2)
A person with deep knowledge of assembly language programming can explain it with more examples. If you want to know the actual sense behind all this, I guess you need to study bit level arithmetic and assembly language of computer.

Changing the LSB to 1 in a 4 bit integer via C

I am receiving a number N where N is a 4-bit integer and I need to change its LSB to 1 without changing the other 3 bits in the number using C.
Basically, all must read XXX1.
So lets say n = 2, the binary would be 0010. I would change the LSB to 1 making the number 0011.
I am struggling with finding a combination of operations that will do this. I am working with: !, ~, &, |, ^, <<, >>, +, -, =.
This has really been driving me crazy and I have been playing around with >>/<< and ~ and starting out with 0xF.
Try
number |= 1;
This should set the LSB to 1 regardless of what the number is. Why? Because the bitwise OR (|) operator does exactly what its name suggests: it logical ORs the two numbers' bits. So if you have, say, 1010b and 1b (10 and 1 in decimal), then the operator does this:
1 0 1 0
OR 0 0 0 1
= 1 0 1 1
And that's exactly what you want.
For your information, the
number |= 1;
statement is equivalent to
number = number | 1;
Use x = x | 0x01; to set the LSB to 1
A visualization
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
OR
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
----------------------
? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1
Therefore other bits will stay the same except the LSB is set to 1.
Use the bitwise or operator |. It looks at two numbers bit by bit, and returns the number generated by performing an OR with each bit.
int n = 2;
n = n | 1;
printf("%d\n", n); // prints the number 3
In binary, 2 = 0010, 3 = 0011, and 1 = 0001
0010
OR 0001
-------
0011
If n is not 0
n | !!n
works.
If n is 0, then !n is what you want.
UPDATE
The fancy one liner :P
n = n ? n | !!n : !n;

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