Number Representation

Why do computer scientists use octal and hexadecimal?

Just group the bits into groups of 3 or 4.

128's

64's

32's

16's

8's

4's

2's

1's

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

64's

8's

1's

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

0 * 64

5 * 8

3 * 1

( 00101011₂ = 053₈ = 43₁₀)

16's

1's

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

2 * 16

B₁₆ * 1

( 00101011₂ = 0x2B₁₆ = 43₁₀)

(B₁₆ = 11₁₀)

Alyce Brady, Kalamazoo College