Fingers or Fists? (The Choice of Decimal or Binary Representation)

The binary number system offers many advantages
over a decimal representation for a high-performance, 
general-purpose computer.  The greater simplicity of
a binary arithmetic unit and the greater compactness 
of binary numbers both contribute directly to arithmetic
speed.  Less obvious and perhaps more important 
is the way binary addressing and instruction formats can
increase the overall performance.  Binary addresses 
are also essential to certain powerful operations which
are not practical with decimal instruction formats. 
 On the other hand, decimal numbers are essential for
communicating between man and the computer.  In 
applications requiring the processing of a large volume
of inherently decimal input and output data, 
the time for decimal-binary conversion needed by a purely
binary computer may be significant.  A slower 
decimal adder may take less time than a fast binary adder
doing an addition and two conversions.  A careful 
review of the significance of decimal and binary addressing
and both binary and decimal data arithmetic, 
supplemented by efficient conversion instructions.

CACM December, 1959

Buchholz, W.

CA591202 JB March 22, 1978  3:47 PM

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