Number Systems Review

Binary · Decimal · Hex

1:00

A complete tour of binary, decimal, and hexadecimal — how to convert fluently between all three, and why hex is simply compressed binary.

By the end, you can

Explain what a number system's base means and name the digits each base uses.
Convert a binary number to decimal by summing its active place values.
Convert a decimal number to binary using the subtract-powers-of-2 method or the divide-by-2 remainder method.
Convert a hex number to decimal using powers of 16, treating A–F as 10–15.
Apply the nibble shortcut to convert between binary and hex without full arithmetic.
Recognize that "10", "FF", and other digit strings are base-dependent and must always be read with their base in mind.
State that one byte equals two hex digits and that FF = 255.

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