There are two other bases used in computers. They are hexadecimal and octal. Here is a brief description of each base.

! Reminder: Don’t forget to try out the Java base calculator designed by the creators of this site. Go here to be amazed.

Hexadecimal is a 16-bit numbering system. If you ever look at the machine code for a computer program, you will often see hexadecimal numbers, rather than the binary number. The reason is simple. Say you were trying to represent 12 in binary and hexadecimal. In hexadecimal, C represents the number, whereas in binary it is 1100. The mere space usage of each number is evident.

Hexadecimal is used to represent machine language for the computer and to represent colors. If you ever work with HTML, you will learn that instead of entering in a color name, a hexadecimal number is often entered. 

Octal is an 8-bit numbering system. It is rarely used for common purposes, but occasionally you will find a need for it.

Here is a small table representing the first 15 figures of the 3 bases we have discussed.

 
! Reminder: Don’t forget to try out the Java base calculator designed by the creators of this site. Go here to be amazed.

So what good is all this base stuff anyway? Well, it is used to form the data on the computer. What is Data? Well find out in the next section on Data. 

All material and images on these pages are copyright Joseph,Ed. This page was developed for the Thinkquest1999 competition.