HEXADECIMAL NUMBERS
Hexadecimal is a convenient way to represent binary numbers, especially in computing, due to its efficiency in both readability and compactness.
- It’s a base 16 numbering system;
- It uses the digits 0-9 and the letters A-F to represent values from 10 to 15;
| Decimal | Hexadecimal |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 5 |
| 6 | 6 |
| 7 | 7 |
| 8 | 8 |
| 9 | 9 |
| 10 | A |
| 11 | B |
| 12 | C |
| 13 | D |
| 14 | E |
| 15 | F |
- To understand better, I can divide the binary number into groups of 4 bits;
- The reason for this is that every 4 bits represents a hexadecimal value;
| Binary | 8 (2^3) | 4 (2^2) | 2 (2^1) | 1 (2^0) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1111 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 (F) |
Let’s convert binary to hexadecimal with the number 0100 1101:
> 0100 = 0 + 0 + 4 + 0 = 4
> 1101 = 1 + 0 + 4 + 8 = 13 (D)
> 0100 1101 = 4D