Why is Int32's maximum value 0x7FFFFFFF?

Question

I saw in MSDN documents that the maximum value of Int32 is 2,147,483,647, hexadecimal 0x7FFFFFFF.

I think, if it\'s Int32 it should store 32-bi

Answer 1

It's because it's a signed integer. An unsigned 32-bit integer give you the value you expect.

Check out this MSDN page - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/exx3b86w(v=vs.80).aspx

For a more in depth explanation on why this is check out the link in Jackson Popes answer related to Two's Complement number representation.

Also some further reading.