How to Add Negative Binary Numbers
There are only two digits used in binary numbers, "0" and "1." Adding negative binary numbers is a little trickier than regular subtraction of whole numbers. When adding negative binary numbers, the sum will always be a negative number.
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Instructions
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Educate yourself on the use of binary numbers (see Resources). Computers and engineering jobs require the use of the binary number system, so you must know it well to go into these fields.
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Work on calculations with binary numbers. Position your numerals to explain that each digit is two times as large in quantity as the one located to the right (as opposed to 10 in a regular number system). For example: show one as "1," show two as "10," show three as "11" and show four as "100."
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Illustrate a negative binary number through "signed magnitude." The first digit on the left doesn't count as a number. It is actually the same thing as using a positive or negative sign. The "0" means the number is positive, while the "1" means the number is negative.
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Analyze the binary numbers that come after the positive/negative designation. You can see that the digits 00001100 in 8 bits would be equal to 12.
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Place a "1" in front of the last seven digits replacing the current "0." Negate a binary number using "one's complement" by replacing all of the zeros with ones and vice-versa. Take the normal amount of 12 (00001100) and make it a negative 12 (11110011).
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Add two negative binary numbers. The answer will be a negative number so large that it goes over the range of the current bit field. As a result, the number shown is inaccurate because you are only going seven digit spaces plus the number assigned to positive/negative.
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Tips & Warnings
Binary numbers are difficult to grasp, but once you have a basic understanding, you can add them easily.
The value of the number cannot be determined unless you know specifically if you used the "signed magnitude" or "one's complement" version mentioned above.
