Binary numeral system: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 09:09, 28 April 2007

The binary number system, also referred to as base-2, or radix-2, represents numbers using only the digits 0 and 1. This is in contrast with the more familiar decimal number system (a.k.a. base-10, radix-10) which uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. In the decimal system, each digit position represents a power of ten. The number represents the value consisting of one set of tens (), and no sets of ones (). Equivalently in the binary system each digit position represents a power of two. The same number, represents the value consisting of one set of twos () and no sets of ones () which is represented by the number 2 in the decimal system. When the numbering system used for a number is in question, one can write the radix as a subscript to the number as done in the following table.

Decimal
Binary

Because the number of digits in the binary representation of a value can grow quickly, binary values are often represented in the hexadecimal number system (base-16), which uses the digits 0 through 9, followed by the letters A through F to represent the values ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen.

Decimal Binary Hexadecimal
0 0 0
1 1 1
2 10 2
3 11 3
4 100 4
5 101 5
6 110 6
7 111 7
8 1000 8
9 1001 9
10 1010 A
11 1011 B
12 1100 C
13 1101 D
14 1110 E
15 1111 F
16 10000 10