Basic Maths

Working with exponents

Xa * Xb == X(a+b) –> 25 * 23 = 28

Xa / Xb == X(a-b) –> 25 / 23 = 22 –> 23 / 25 = 2-2 –> 122

(Xa)b == X(a*b) –> (25)3 = 215

(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0G-Nd0V5ZMoqKRtXInzWnaeUlY66W35V)

Power of two

Can you tell, without looking at the table below, how much is 225?

We can easily get the order of magnitude of big powers of two using the initial powers and doing some extrapolation. Here is a table with the real numbers.

Kilo Mega Giga Tera
20 = 1 210 = 1.024 220 = 1.048.576 230 = 1.073.741.824 240 = 1.099.511.627.776
21 = 2 211 = 2.048 221 = 2.097.152 231 = 2.147.483.648
22 = 4 212 = 4.096 222 = 4.194.304 232 = 4.294.967.296
23 = 8 213 = 8.192 223 = 8.388.608 233 = 8.589.934.592
24 = 16 214 = 16.384 224 = 16.777.216 234 = 17.179.869.184 264 = 18.446.744.073.709.551.616
25 = 32 215 = 32.768 225 = 33.554.432 235 = 34.359.738.368
26 = 64 216 = 65.536 226 = 67.108.864 236 = 68.719.476.736
27 = 128 217 = 131.072 227 = 134.217.728 237 = 137.438.953.472
28 = 256 218 = 262.144 228 = 268.435.456 238 = 274.877.906.944
29 = 512 219 = 524.288 229 = 536.870.912 239 = 549.755.813.888

In bold the “initial” numbers, which can be seen in the rest of columns. The “extrapolation” increases when going to the right, but the order of magnitude is correct: we can extrapolate that 225 will be 32.000.000. This is by taking 5 from the 25, which indicates the initial power 25 (32). Then we take 2 of the 25. Each unit is a factor of 1000, so 2 is 1.000.000 (or 2 groups of 3 zeros). This gives us an order of magnitude of 32.000.000.

These powers of two are just the mathematical calculations. In CS, they can represent, for instance, the number of bits needed to represent numbers: with 3 bits, we can represent 23 = 8 numbers. To be precise, from 0 to 7. They can also represent the number of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Playing with 2…

When we add or subtract powers of 2, we multiply or divide by 2 each time.

Grouping things can lead sometimes to do fast (“wrong”) calculations. For instance, 32 bit

Taking into account that a byte are 8 bits (2)