A signed data type has an equal number of non-zero positive and negative values available.
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True
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False
To solve this question, the user needs to know the basic concept of signed data types.
A signed data type is a data type that can represent both positive and negative numbers. This type of data is represented using a sign bit, which indicates whether the number is positive or negative.
Now, let's go through each option and explain why it is right or wrong:
A. True: This option is incorrect. The number of non-zero positive values and negative values in a signed data type is not equal. In a signed data type, one bit is reserved for the sign, which means there is one less bit for the magnitude. As a result, the range of positive values is one less than the range of negative values. For example, in a signed 8-bit data type, the range of positive values is 0 to 127, while the range of negative values is -1 to -128.
B. False: This option is correct. A signed data type does not have an equal number of non-zero positive and negative values available. As explained above, the range of positive values is one less than the range of negative values in a signed data type.
Therefore, the answer is: B. False.
This is False. In standard signed binary representations (e.g., two's complement, the most common signed integer encoding), the range of negative values exceeds the range of positive values by one — for example, an 8-bit signed byte ranges from -128 to 127, giving 128 negative values (including one representation for the most negative) but only 127 positive non-zero values, because zero itself consumes one of the 'positive side' bit patterns. So there is not an equal number of non-zero positive and negative values; negatives outnumber positives by exactly one, which is why the statement is False.