Number Systems and Conversions

Numbers can be represented in a variety of ways. The representation depends on what is

called the BASE. The following are the four most common representations.

Decimal
We normally represent numbers in their decimal form. Numbers in decimal form are in
base 10. This means that the only digits that appear are 0-9. Here are examples of
numbers written in decimal form:
12610 (normally written as just 126)
1110 (normally written as just 11)

Binary
Numbers in binary form are in base 2. This means that the only legal digits are 0 and 1.
We need to write the subscript 2 to indicate that the number is a binary number. Here
are examples of numbers written in binary form:
11111102
10112

Octal
Numbers in octal form are in base 8. This means that the only legal digits are 0-7. We
need to write the subscript 8 to indicate that the number is an octal number. Here are
examples of numbers written in octal form:
1768
138

Hexadecimal
Numbers in hexadecimal form are in base 16. This means that the only legal digits are 0-
9 and the letters A-F (or a-f, lowercase or uppercase does not matter). We need to write
the subscript 16 to indicate that the number is a hexadecimal number. Here are
examples of numbers written in hexadecimal form:
7E16
B16

Hexadecimal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
Decimal Equivalent 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5
Table 3: Hexadecimal Numbers and their Equivalence to decimal numbers

Decimal Binary Octal Hexadecimal

12610 11111102 1768 7E16
1110 10112 138 B16
Table 4: Summary of Examples
Conversions

Decimal to Binary / Binary to Decimal

To convert a decimal number to binary, continuously divide the number by 2 and get the
remainder (which is either 0 or 1), and get that number as a digit of the binary form of
the number. Get the quotient and divide that number again by 2 and repeat the whole
process until the quotient reaches 0 or 1. We then get all the remainders starting from
the last remainder, and the result is the binary form of the number.
NOTE: For the last digit which is already less than the divisor (which is 2) just copy the
value to the remainder portion.

For Example:
12610 = ? 2

Quotient Remainder
126 / 2 = 63 0

Write it this way

63 / 2 = 31 1
31 / 2 = 15 1
15 / 2 = 7 1
7 / 2 = 3 1
3 / 2 = 1 1
1 / 2 = 1

So, writing the remainders from the bottom up, we get the binary number 11111102

To convert a binary number to decimal, we multiply the binary digit to "2 raised to the
position of the binary number". We then add all the products to get the resulting decimal
number.

For Example:
11111102 = ? 10

Position 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Binary 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Digits
0 x 20 = 0
1 x 21 = 2
1 x 22 = 4
1 x 2 3= 8
1 x 24= 16
1 x 25 = 32
1 x 26 = 64
TOTAL: 126
Decimal to Octal (or Hexadecimal)/Octal (or Hexadecimal) to Decimal
Converting decimal numbers to Octal or hexadecimal is basically the same as converting
decimal to binary. However, instead of having 2 as the divisor, you replace it with 8(for
octal) or 16 (for hexadecimal).

For Example (Octal):

12610 = ? 8

Quotient Remainder

Write it this way

126 / 8 = 15 6
15 / 8 = 1 7
1/8= 1

So, writing the remainders from the bottom up, we get the octal number 1768

For Example (Hexadecimal):

12610 = ? 16

Write it this way

Quotient Remainder
14 (equal to hex
digit E)
126 / 16 = 7
7 / 16 = 7

So, writing the remainders from the bottom up, we get the hexadecimal number 7E16
***
Converting octal or hexadecimal numbers is also the same as converting binary numbers
to decimal. To do that, we will just replace the base number 2 with 8 for Octal and 16 for
hexadecimal.

For Example (Octal):

1768 = ? 10

Position 2 1 0
Octal Digits 1 7 6
6 x 80 = 6
7 x 81 = 56
1 x 82 = 64
TOTAL: 126
For Example (Hexadecimal):
7E16 = ? 10

Position 1 0
Hex Digits 7 E
14 x 160 = 14
7 x 161 = 112
TOTAL: 126

Binary to Octal / Octal to Binary

To convert from binary numbers to octal, we partition the binary number into groups of 3
digits (from right to left), and pad it with zeros if the number of digits is not divisible by
3. We then convert each partition into its corresponding octal digit. The following is a
table showing the binary representation of each octal digit.

Octal Digit Binary

Representation
0 000
1 001
2 010
3 011
4 100
5 101
6 110
7 111
Table 5: Octal Digits and their corresponding binary represenation

For Example:
11111102 = ? 8

0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0

1 7 6
Equivalent octal number

Converting octal numbers to binary is just the opposite of what is given above. Simply
convert each octal digit into its binary representation (given the table) and concatenate
them. The result is the binary representation.
Binary to Hexadecimal / Hexadecimal to Binary
To convert from binary numbers to hexadecimal, we partition the binary number into
groups of 4 digits (from right to left), and pad it with zeros if the number of digits is not
divisible by 4. We then convert each partition into its corresponding hexadecimal digit.
The following is a table showing the binary representation of each hexadecimal digit.

Hexadecimal Binary
Digit Representation
0 0000
1 0001
2 0010
3 0011
4 0100
5 0101
6 0110
7 0111
8 1000
9 1001
A 1010
B 1011
C 1100
D 1101
E 1110
F 1111
Table 6: Hexadecimal Digits and their corresponding binary represenation

For Example:
11111102 = ? 16

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0

7 E
Equivalent Hexadecimal
number
Converting hexadecimal numbers to binary is just the opposite of what is given above.
Simply convert each hexadecimal digit into its binary representation (given the table)
and concatenate them. The result is the binary representation.