Negative Numbers in Binary: The Trick That Powers Every Computer

What happens when a computer encounters -1? The answer is weirder — and more elegant — than you'd expect. In this video we dig into how computers actually represent negative numbers in binary. We start with the obvious-but-broken approach (sign-magnitude), show why it fails, then work through one's complement and arrive at two's complement — the system that quietly powers every processor you've ever used. Covered in this video: → Why you can't just slap a minus sign on a binary number → Sign-magnitude: the intuitive approach and its inherent flaw → One's complement: almost there, but not quite → Two's complement: the elegant solution and why it works -- Credits -- Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio --- Boost your YouTube audience with vidIQ. Use this link to unlock 500 bonus credits when you upgrade to a premium plan: https://vidiq.com/r/?code=YtfDjC