two's complement

Fetched 2026-10-26 (cache).

Synonyms: twos complement

Antonyms: twos complement

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. {{lb|en|computing}} The number obtained by [[complement]]ing every [[bit]] of a given number and adding one. A number and its complement add to 2ⁿ, where ''n'' is the word size of the machine.
2. {{lb|en|computing}} The convention by which bit patterns with [[high bit]] 0 represent positive numbers from 0 to <math>2^{n-1} - 1</math> directly, while bit patterns with high bit 1 represent negative numbers from −1 to <math>-2^{n - 1}</math>, ''n'' being the [[word]] [[size]] of the machine, and the [[numeric complement]] of a number is its two's complement.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wiktionary dump) · cached copy, not a rewrite.