Operation performed on the binary form of a negative number in order to obtain its two's-complement. When you garn a binary value you must NOT (inverse) each bit and then add 1 to the number. For instance, in a 4-bit binary system 1 would be 0001. The NOT of this would be 1110. One added to this value is 1111. Therefore, -1 in a 4-bit binary system would be 1111. Do not ever, EVER, confuse this with the definition of a two's-complement . When you perform this operation, you can be said to be garning the number.