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One of the bit patterns is wasted. Addition doesn't work the way we want it to.

Remember we wanted to have negative binary numbers so we could use our binary addition algorithm to simulate binary subtraction. How does signed magnitude fare with addition? To test it, let's try subtracting 2 from 5 by adding 5 and -2. A positive 5 would be represented with the bit pattern '0101B' and -2 with '1010B'. Let's add these two numbers and see what the result is:

0101

0010

-----

0111

Now we interpret the result as a signed magnitude number. The sign is '0' (non-negative) and the magnitude is '7'. So the answer is a postive 7. But, wait a minute, 5-2=3! This obviously didn't work. Conclusion: signed magnitude doesn't work with regular binary addition algorithms.

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Q: What is the main limitation of sign magnitude representation?
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