Wed, 9 Oct 2013, 03:44

A student writes:

 
> Dear Dr. Patt,
> I hope your trip To Turkey is going well. My studying for the test 
> is going very well, but one question is really bugging me.  
> In problem 1 part C of the 2008 exam, the questions asks us 
> to represent -5  in ASCII. That value is not in the back of book 
> on the ASCII codes table. Could you elaborate?
>
> <<name withheld to protect the student who wants an ASCII code for -5>>


ASCII codes correspond to single characters you can type on the keyboard
or display on the monitor.  There is no key on the keyboard labeled -5.
Therefore there is no ASCII code for -5.  You need to first type a minus
sign, then type a 5.  So, the ASCII representation for -5 is the ASCII code
for minus, followed by the ASCII code for 5.

Good luck on the midterm.

Yale Patt