3.3.1 Number Bases

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1 Number Bases

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Decimal, Binary and Hexadecimal

  • In this unit we will learn about the following number systems:
    • Decimal (Base 10).
    • Binary (Base 2).
    • Hexadecimal (Base 16).

Decimal

  • Binary data uses only two digits, 0 and 1. With our decimal systems we use ten digits, 0 to 9. The number 55, for example, is 5 tens plus 5 units.
  • The number 54351 is made up of the following:
Hundred Thousands Ten Thousands Thousands Hundreds Tens Units
0 5 4 3 5 1
  • Each category is multiplied by 10 each time
  • (5x10000)+(4x1000)+(3x100)+(5x10)+(1x1)=54351

Binary

  • As previously mentioned binary systems use base 2 and they only have two possible digits, 0 and 1.
  • The decimal number: 123 has a binary value of: 01111011.
  • Using the table below we can convert decimal to binary or binary to decimal:
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1
  • Using the table above we simply ignore the zero's and add the values of the 1's.
  • Each category is multiplied by 2 each time
  • (0x128)+(1x64)+(1x32)+(1x16)+(1x8)+(0x4)+(1x2)+(1x1)=123

Why Binary

  • A computer microprocessor contains the central processing unit (CPU) which carries out all of the program instructions by carrying out millions of instructions per second.
  • These calculations are performed by billions of transistors acting as switches. They have two states, either off or on/0 or 1.
  • Computers use binary to represent all data and instructions, a bit pattern could represent different types of data including text, image, sound and integers. 
All computer programs and the data that computers store have to be converted into billions
 of 1s and 0s as that is all that computers can work with!

Binary Explained by James May

  • The following video explains how and why computers use binary:

Try It

  • Using the table below try converting the following decimal number: 96 into binary:
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
               

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Hexadecimal

  • Hexadecimal is a base 16 number system, there are 16 digits, 0 to 15.
  • As we only have 10 single digits in decimal (0 to 9), we use uppercase letters A to F for the remaining six digits.
  • The following table shows the hexadecimal digits and their decimal equivalents:
Decimal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Hexadecimal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

Useful Conversion Table

Decimal Binary Hexadecimal
0 0000 0
1 0001 1
2 0010 2
3 0011 3
4 0100 4
5 0101 5
6 0110 6
7 0111 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

Why do we use Hexadecimal?

  • Hexadecimal is widely used in computing because it is a much shorter way of representing a byte of data and therefore much easier for humans to remember.
  • If we were to represent a byte of data in binary, it would require 8 digits, e.g. 11111111.
  • However, that same byte of data could be represented in hexadecimal in just two digits e.g. FF - much more compact and user friendly than a binary number.

Hexadecimal Explained

  • The following video explains how all of the number systems work and the last part of the video explains how hexadecimal number systems work.

Try It

  • Using the tables and video above try and convert the following decimal number: 112 first into Binary and then into Hexadecimal?
  • Step 1: First we need to use the binary table to work out the Binary number.
  • Step 2: Does 128 go into 112? No, so we place a 0 under the 128 value, then does 64 go into 112? Yes, 112 - 64 = 48 - so we place a 1 under the 64 value.
  • Step 3: We can then check does 32 goes into 48? Yes, 48 - 32 = 16 - so we place a 1 under the 32 value.
  • Step 4: Repeat this until there is no remainder.
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
  • This gives us 01110000 - We then need to split the byte (8 bits) into two nibbles (4 bits).
  • Then starting at the least significant bit (The right side).
  • Read the 4 bits (0000) - Look at the conversion table above gives us a 0.
  • Read the next 4 bits (0111) - Again look at the coversion table gives us a 7.
  • So 112 in Decimal converts to 01110000 in Binary - Converts to 70 in Hexadecimal.

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Larger Hexadecimal Numbers

  • In Binary the largest byte value is 255 and you can use hexadecimal numbers to represent up to this value.
  • We can extend the table above to show the next set of hexadecimal numbers:
Decimal 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Hexadecimal 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F
  • Once we have gone past the first 16 numbers, a 1 is added in front of the next 16 numbers. (similar to denary when we go from 0-9 and then the next 10 numbers have a 1 in front of them)

Badge It

  • Silver: Answer the following 3 questions and submit to www.bournetolearn.com 
1. What number system does a computer use?
2. What is the maximum decimal number that could be represented in a byte?
3. Looking at the Binary Table above, what decimal value is represented by 2^8?

Badge It

  • Gold: Answer the following questions and submit to www.bournetolearn.com 
1. Why do we use Hexadecimal instead of Binary in Computer Science?
2. Complete the following Hexadecimal Table and state what is the largest value you could
   represent with 16^4 (Five Hexadecimal digits)?
164 163 162 161 160
? ? ? 16 1

Badge It

  • Platinum: The next set of hexadecimal numbers would have a 2 in front of them:
Decimal 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
Hexadecimal 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F
  • Complete the table for the next set of values:
Decimal 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63
Hexadecimal                                

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