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Each hex digit represents four binary digits therefore, hex is a language to write binary in an abbreviated form.įour binary digits (also called nibbles) make up half a byte. Hex is used in mathematics and information technologies as a more friendly way to represent binary numbers. The letters are used because of the need to represent the values 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 each in one single symbol. These are the 10 decimal digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) and the first six letters of the English alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F). As a base-16 numeral system, it uses 16 symbols.
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The hexadecimal system (shortly hex), uses the number 16 as its base (radix).
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The difficulty of representing very large numbers in the decimal system was overcome by the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. Therefore, it has 10 symbols: The numbers from 0 to 9 namely 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.Īs one of the oldest known numeral systems, the decimal numeral system has been used by many ancient civilizations. It uses the number 10 as its base (radix). The decimal numeral system is the most commonly used and the standard system in daily life.
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