Bit Manipulation by Hand: ^ means XOR, ~ is a Not (Negation) - XOR: If it's a different bit, it will be 1. EX) 1101 ^ (~1101) = 1111 - If you XOR a bit with its own negated value, you will always get 1. Therefore, the solution to a^(~a) will be a sequence of 1s. EX) 1011 & (~0