The smallest integer that can be represented by an 8- bit number in 2’s complement form is

The Correct Answer is -128.

• The smallest integer that can be represented by an 8- bit number in 2’s complement form is -128.
• The sign bit is the most important bit.
• 00000001 is +1, a number which is positive.
• So, the range of 8-bit complement numbers of two is -128 to 127, since 128 is not representable (it would be 10000000, but the sign bit rule says that would be a negative number).
• 10000000 is the most negative figure.
• The leading 1 tells you it is negative, and you flip all the bits (011111111) to get the magnitude of the number, then add one (10000000 = 128).
• So -128 is the resulting number.

Additional Information

• The range of numbers that can be represented by n-bits in 2's complement form is
• (-2)^n-1 to (2^n-1) -1
• Hence, here the smallest number is (-2)⁷ = -128.