Version 1.0, August 31, 2001, Copyright, Hugh Jack 1993-2001

21.1 INTRODUCTION

 

· We are familiar with numbers based on units of 10, a result of our 10 fingers. But, other number bases are possible.

 

· When using digital systems, we will use a variety of numbering systems (other than in units of 10).

 

· With computers, number bases that are multiples of 2 are favored.

  1. base 2 - binary
  2. base 8 - octal
  3. base 16 - hexadecimal

 

· For each base we count as usual, but the numbers stop at some value, then a more significant digit is added.