eNotes: Mechatronics and Controls

21.1 INTRODUCTION

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We are familiar with numbers based on units of 10, a result of our 10 fingers. But, other number bases are possible.

When using digital systems, we will use a variety of numbering systems (other than in units of 10).

With computers, number bases that are multiples of 2 are favored.

base 2 - binary

base 8 - octal

base 16 - hexadecimal

For each base we count as usual, but the numbers stop at some value, then a more significant digit is added.