Computer Number Format - Octal and Hex Number Display

Octal and Hex Number Display

See also Base64.

Octal and hex are a convenient way to represent binary numbers, as used by computers. Computer engineers often need to write out binary quantities, but in practice writing out a binary number such as 1001001101010001 is tedious, and prone to errors. Therefore, binary quantities are written in a base-8, or "octal", or, much more commonly, a base-16, "hexadecimal" or "hex", number format. In the decimal system, there are 10 digits, 0 through 9, which combine to form numbers. In an octal system, there are only 8 digits, 0 through 7. That is, an octal "10" is the same as a decimal "8", an octal "20" is a decimal "16", and so on. In a hexadecimal system, there are 16 digits, 0 through 9 followed, by convention, with A through F. That is, a hex "10" is the same as a decimal "16" and a hex "20" is the same as a decimal "32". An example and comparison of numbers in different bases is described in the chart below.

Read more about this topic:  Computer Number Format

Famous quotes containing the words number and/or display:

    Without claiming superiority of intellectual over visual understanding, one is nevertheless bound to admit that the cinema allows a number of æsthetic-intellectual means of perception to remain unexercised which cannot but lead to a weakening of judgment.
    Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)

    Lovers of painting and lovers of music are people who openly display their preference like a delectable ailment that isolates them and makes them proud.
    Maurice Blanchot (b. 1907)