Binary-coded decimal Binary-coded decimal In computing and electronic systems, binary-coded decimal (BCD) is a class of binary encodings of decimal numbers where each decimal digit is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four or eight. Special bit patterns are sometimes used for a sign or for other indications (e.g., error or overflow). In byte-oriented systems (i.e. most modern computers), the term "unpacked" BCD usually implies a full byte for each digit (often including a sign), whereas "packed" BCD typically encodes two decimal digits within a single byte by taking advantage of the fact that four bits are enough to represent
Stochastic computing can take the logical AND of the two streams. The probability of a one in the output stream is formula_5. By observing enough output bits and measuring the frequency of ones, it is possible to estimate formula_5 to arbitrary accuracy. The operation above converts a fairly complicated computation (multiplication of formula_3 and formula_4) into a series of very simple operations (evaluation of formula_9) on random bits. More generally speaking, stochastic computing represents numbers as streams of random bits and reconstructs numbers by calculating frequencies. The computations are performed on the streams and translate complicated operations on formula_3 and formula_4 into