Sem título

Página 1

How to Understand Hexidecimal.

Hexadecimal notation (base sixteen) is used throughout the Web and computer systems to indicate values. One good example is the notation for color in HTML pages. Reading and using hexadecimal takes some practice, but the basic concept is no more difficult to understand than the ordinary decimal (base ten) system you've been using all your life.

Method 1 of 3: Understanding the Concept of Hexadecimal 1. Learn what hexidecimal is. Just like the decimal (base ten) system uses different symbols to denote values from Zero to Nine, the hexidecimal number system uses sixteen different symbols to denote values from Zero to Fifteen. Any number can be written in either system. Here's how to start counting in Hexidecimal:

Zero through to Fifteen: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D ,E, F

Sixteen through to Thirty-Two: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1F, 20

2. Learn how to write bases. The ten symbols used in the decimal number system form the base of the decimal number system. Similarly, the sixteen symbols used in the hexadecimal number system form the base of the hexadecimal number system. Whenever it's unclear which base is being used, subscript numbers are added to show the base. For example, 10010 is "100 in base 10" and 10016 is "100 in base 16" (which equals 409610).

3. Understand place values in decimal. We can understand long numbers written in base 10 without even pausing to think, but that's only because we've had a lot of practice. We know automatically that "583410" means 5x103 + 8x102 + 3x101 + 4x100. Each digit in a multi-digit number has its own place value. Here are the place values in decimal, from right to left:

10010 = 1

10110 = 1010

102 = 10x10 = 100

103 = 10x10x10 = 1000

104 = 10x10x10x10 = 10000

105 = 10x10x10x10x10 = 100000 & so on.

4. Learn the hexadecimal place values. Since hexadecimal is base sixteen, the place values are based on powers of sixteen, not powers of ten. Here are the powers of sixteen, written in decimal.

16010 = 1

16110 = 1610

162=16x16=256

163=16x16x16=4096

164=16x16x16x16=65536

165=16x16x16x16x16=1048576 & so on.

If we write these in hexadecimal, these would instead be written as 1016, 100, 1000, etc.