Why not decimal?

Why do computers handle only bits and bytes ?:confused:

I read google results , people say it is hard to handle a decimal, flip its sign etc. but I think
to flip a sign from minus to plus is easy
e.g +1 and -1 but clearly it takes long time to format a number from input to computer compatible form then to reformat the result for user's review

Computers are made out of bits. That's the only thing they know. Go read some info on how the architecture of a chip works.

Computers operate on numbers in base 2 format, because that's all they can know. A transistor can only have two states, on or off.

Viggy

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Originally Posted by Sharpie

I read google results , people say it is hard to handle a decimal, flip its sign etc. but I think
to flip a sign from minus to plus is easy
e.g +1 and -1 but clearly it takes long time to format a number from input to computer compatible form then to reformat the result for user's review

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For you and me it's easy to flip the sign .. however in PC architecture +1 and -1 are stored very differently ...

using Int16.. +1 = &H0001 and -1 = &HFFFF

The thing is this method allows easier method to perform maths on the numbers..