Signed binary is very similar to binary, only that it includes negative numbers as well. The sign of the binary number is determined by the leading (furthest left) digit. If it is a 1, then it is negative, and the magnitude, or absolute value, can be found by flipping all 1’s to 0’s and 0’s to 1’s. If it is a leading 0, then treat it like a normal binary number. This can be seen in the table below, how unsigned and signed binary numbers differ in their decimal interpretation.
The main benefit of signed binary is the ability to have negative numbers. While using the same digits, both signed and unsigned binary represent the same amount of numbers, or area on the number line as seen in the picture below. The unsigned binary is able to show larger numbers though, due to the extra digit.
