The arithmetic overflow in the 2's- complement addition problem of 100001 + 100010 should be:
A) no cause for suspicion because the sign bit often changes during the addition process.
B) disregarded because the sum is small enough to fit in five magnitude bits.
C) disregarded because negative values are being added.
D) a cause for suspicion because the sign bit of the sum does not match the sign of the addend and augend.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In 2's-complement addition, if the sign bit of the sum does not match the sign bits of both operands (addend and augend), it indicates an overflow. Here, both operands are negative (as indicated by their leading 1s), but if the result's sign bit were positive (0) or if there's a mismatch, it would suggest an arithmetic overflow.

The Arithmetic Overflow in the 2's- Complement Addition Problem of 100001