Hexadecimal
Computer Science: OCR A Level, topic 4.1.10
Hexadecimal Numbers
Hexadecimal is faster for humans to process than binary. Hexadecimal allows us to find errors more easily. Hexadecimal is used in every computer system.
Hexadecimal
- Hexadecimal or hex uses 16 different symbols for each place.
- This means hexadecimal is a base-16 numerical system.
- Hexadecimal uses the digits 0-9, then A-F:
- A = 10 in denary, B = 11 , C = 12, D = 13 and so on.
- Each digit's place value is multiplied by 16 as we move from right to left.
Advantages
- An 8-bit binary number can be represented by two hexadecimal digits.
- This means you can reduce processing time with hexadecimal than with binary.
- Hex is easier and faster to write two digits than the full binary sequence.
- It is easier for a human to process hexadecimal than binary.
Using hexadecimal
- Hexadecimal is used extensively in programming languages such as:
- Machine code.
- Assembly.
- Hex can be used during the debugging stage of writing programs as it is easy to process by humans.
- Hex can represent numbers stored in a CPU's registers or in main memory.
Test yourself on Hexadecimal
Which of these are true of hexadecimal vs binary?