Unary coding: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:23, 24 November 2009

Revision as of 10:40, 24 November 2009

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'''Unary coding''' is an [[entropy encoding]] that represents a [[natural number]], ''n'', with ''n'' ones followed by a zero (if ''natural number'' is understood as ''non-negative integer'') or with ''n'' − 1 ones followed by a zero (if ''natural number'' is understood as ''strictly positive integer''). For example 5 is represented as 111110 or 11110. Some representations use ''n'' or ''n'' − 1 zeros followed by a one. The ones and zeros are interchangeable without loss of generality.

<table border="1" cellpadding="2">

<tr><th>n (non-negative)<th>n (strictly positive)<th>Unary code<th>Alternative

<tr><td>10<td>1<td>0<td>1

<tr><td>21<td>012<td>10<td>01

<tr><td>32<td>0013<td>110<td>001

<tr><td>43<td>00014<td>1110<td>0001

<tr><td>54<td>000015<td>11110<td>00001

<tr><td>65<td>0000016<td>111110<td>000001

<tr><td>76<td>00000017<td>1111110<td>0000001

<tr><td>87<td>000000018<td>11111110<td>00000001

<tr><td>98<td>0000000019<td>111111110<td>000000001

<tr><td>109<td>000000000110<td>111111110<td>0000000001

</table>