Hi and welcome to this week’s question of the week! This week I will cover the word hexadecimal, which I will include in the following question:
How do you count with hexadecimals?
A hexadecimal is a numbering system that counts to 16. Whilst the decimal system counts from 1 to 10 before it resets (e.g. 1–10, 11–20, 21-30, 211-220), a hexadecimal system counts from 1 to 16 before resetting. However, since it is not possible to show more than 10 numbers before resetting (i.e. not possible due to the fact that the decimal system is used to portray hexadecimals), letters are used to fill the remaining 6 numbers before the integer ends. Thus, the last integer in a hexadecimal before the number resets ends with 0 (e.g. f à 10, 4f à 50), just as how it would in the decimal system (e.g. 9 à 10, 49 à 50). This table shows how hexadecimals are written up to the decimal number 32:
A simplified way of describing the decimal system is by calling it a base-10 system, which means that it contains 10 digits. The hexadecimal system on the other hand is a base-16 system, containing 16 digits.
But what use does it have if we are following and accustomed to the decimal system? Well, it is mainly used as a convenience for large numbers. For instance, instead of writing ‘255’ in the decimal system, you could write ‘FF’ in hexadecimal format (FF = 15x16 + 15). This is commonly used in computer codes (e.g. color map, memory addresses, HTML, etc).
In short: A hexadecimal is a numbering system that uses 16 digits as opposed to the decimal system (10 digits) that we are accustomed to today. This system is meant to make large numbers more convenient to read and implement, especially in computers.
If you have any questions or doubts, or would like to contribute, then please do not hesitate to leave a comment!
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