Excerpt from "Introduction to Number Theory" ©2013 AoPS Inc.

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In the binary system we count on our fists instead of on our fingers. – Anonymous

CHAPTER 8
Base Numbers

8.1 Introduction

This chapter revolves around di↵erent methods for writing numbers. This may sound a little strange at
first, but the way in which we usually write numbers (using ten digits) is simply a matter of convenience.
Why do we use ten digits? How would numbers look if we counted using a di↵erent number of
digits? Would writing numbers using di↵erent digits make solving any problems easier? This chapter
will help answer these questions.

8.2 Counting in Bundles

You already know about the decimal system. The decimal system is our method of writing numbers
based on counting in groups of 10. In fact, deci is the Latin root for 10. A numeral is a representation
of a number and each integer has its own numeral in the decimal system. For instance, the decimal
numeral for the number “four” is 4, the decimal numeral for “seven” is 7, and the decimal numeral for
“one hundred sixty-three” is 163.
The system of counting in tens became popular because most people have ten fingers with which
to count. If humans typically had 8 fingers (like Homer Simpson) then we would almost certainly be
counting by 8’s!
If right now you are asking, “How would counting by 8’s work?”—don’t worry! We will get to that
soon enough.

Extra! Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. – Bertrand Russell
‡‡‡‡

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CHAPTER 8. BASE NUMBERS

Problems

Problem 8.1:

Which of these three groups of dots is easiest to count? How many dots are in each picture?

Sidenote: Thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, a number 1

↵ system was developed that shares similarity with our

modern decimal system. Symbols were used to rep-
10
100
resent the smallest few integer powers of 10 as we 1000
see at right. Like other hieroglyphics they were writ- 10000
ten from right to left, biggest to smallest, and top to 100000
bottom. In order to make them easier to read, they 1000000
are often written from left to right as below.

Positive integers were written using combinations of these symbols:

36 420 1314516

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8.2. COUNTING IN BUNDLES

Problem 8.1: Which of the groups of dots on the previous page is easiest to count? How many dots
are in each picture?

Solution for Problem 8.1: The numbers of dots in each picture are exactly the same. The dots in the third
picture are arranged in groups that make them easier to count. The number of dots in each square group
is 52 = 25 and the number of dots in each row is 5. There are 3 square groups, 2 column groups, and 3
leftover dots for a total of
3 · 52 + 2 · 5 + 3 = 75 + 10 + 3 = 88.
2

Concept: It’s easier to count a large number of objects when we group those objects
as we count them.

In Problem 8.1, the second and third pictures group dots in ways that make them easier and easier
to count. From the first picture to the second, complete groups of 5 dots are bundled together into strips
of 5. Then, the third picture bundles strips of 5 into as many complete 5 ⇥ 5 squares as possible. Each
time we bundle, we bundle by the same amount to make it easier to keep track of the grouping process.
Therefore, the number of dots in each bundle (including the leftover individual dots) is 50 , 51 , or 52 . If
there were more dots, we could continue to group dots into bundles with 53 , 54 , 55 , etc.
This method for keeping track of numbers with bundles gives rise to the decimal system. In the
decimal system, we create bundles from powers of 10:
10
0 10
10 0
0 10
10 0
0 10
10 0
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 100 10
0 10
0 1000
0 10
0

10 x 1 = 10 10 x 10 = 100 10 x 100 = 1000

Let’s take a look at how these bundles give us a way to write numbers. Suppose you give your friend
3572 twigs to count. Your friend first makes 357 complete bundles of 101 twigs, with 2 = 2 · 100 twigs
leftover. Of those 357 bundles of 101 , your friend makes 35 complete bundles of 102 twigs each, leaving
only 7 bundles of 101 left. Next, he groups together 3 whole bundles of 103 twigs, leaving 5 bundles of
102 left. With fewer than 10 bundles of 103 , your friend stops bundling.
At this point, your friend has 3 · 103 twigs grouped in the largest bundles, another 5 · 102 twigs
grouped in the next largest bundles, another 7 · 101 twigs bundled together, and 2 · 100 twigs leftover
from the grouping process. He easily tallies the total number of twigs:

3 · 103 + 5 · 102 + 7 · 101 + 2 · 100 = 3000 + 500 + 70 + 2 = 3572.

1000 100 100

10 10 10 10 10 10 10

1000 100 100 100

1000

3 x 1000 + 5 x 100 + 7 x 10 + 2x1 = 3572

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CHAPTER 8. BASE NUMBERS

Let’s call quantities such as 3 · 103 , 5 · 102 , 7 · 101 , and 2 · 100 digit bundles because we can use the
coefficients of the powers of 10 (3, 5, 7, and 2) as digits with which to write the decimal numeral that
represents the sum of the digit bundles.

Definition: A numeral is a symbol used to represent a number.

In the decimal number system, we use ten digits to build the numerals that represent numbers. The
decimal number system is an example of a base number system. Because the decimal system groups
quantities in powers of 10, we also refer to the decimal number system as base 10.

Definition: Systems for writing numbers using a select list of digits to represent digit bundles are
known as base number systems.

When bundling in base 10, we use the 10 digits 0 through 9 inclusive. When we have 10 of a bundle,
we bundle them into a larger bundle. Likewise, the base of any number system determines the number
of digits that can be the coefficients of digit bundles. While 2 · 32 is a base-3 digit bundle, the quantity
5 · 32 is not because we can bundle 3 of the bundles of size 32 to create a bundle of size 33 , so

5 · 32 = 1 · 3 3 + 2 · 3 2 ,

where 1 · 33 and 2 · 32 are base 3 digit bundles. Here are some other examples of digit bundles:

1 · 25 0 · 92 6 · 716
3 · 42 7 · 97 5 · 124

Exercises

8.2.1 Write each of the following sums of digit bundles as decimal numerals.

(a) 2 · 102 + 5 · 101 + 8 · 100

(b) 5 · 104 + 0 · 103 + 9 · 102 + 1 · 101 + 7 · 100
(c) 3 · 82 + 7 · 81 + 3 · 80
(d) 2 · 43 + 3 · 42 + 0 · 41 + 2 · 40

Sidenote: While the ancient Egyptian number system grouped values of integers into
↵ bundles of powers of 10, it simply repeated symbols to represent numbers of
bundles. Using digits to represent numbers of bundles allows us to write
numbers more compactly. It also allows us to perform arithmetic more
easily by lining up digits by their place values for addition, subtraction,
and multiplication.

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8.3. BASE NUMBERS

8.3 Base Numbers

Let’s explore base number systems other than the ordinary base 10 that we’re used to.

Problems

Problem 8.2: Fill in each blank with either 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to make true statements.

63 = 1 · 62 + 4 · 61 + 3 · 60
64 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
65 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
66 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
67 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
68 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
69 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
70 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
71 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
72 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
73 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
74 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60

Problem 8.3: Suppose you make a list of the 64 smallest positive integers that can be written using
only the digits 0 through 7 inclusive:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, . . .

What would be the last number in your list?

Problem 8.2: Fill in each blank with either 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to make true statements.

63 = 1 · 62 + 4 · 61 + 3 · 60
64 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
65 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
66 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
67 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
68 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
69 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
70 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
71 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
72 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
73 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60
74 = · 62 + · 61 + · 60

Solution for Problem 8.2: In this problem we rewrite base-10 numbers as sums of base-6 digit bundles.

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CHAPTER 8. BASE NUMBERS

We use the first line as a starting point. From there, we count up in the units digits and group bundles
into larger bundles when necessary.
63 = 1 · 62 + 4 · 61 + 3 · 60
64 = 1 · 62 + 4 · 61 + 4 · 60
65 = 1 · 62 + 4 · 61 + 5 · 60
66 = 1 · 62 + 5 · 61 + 0 · 60
67 = 1 · 62 + 5 · 61 + 1 · 60
68 = 1 · 62 + 5 · 61 + 2 · 60
69 = 1 · 62 + 5 · 61 + 3 · 60
70 = 1 · 62 + 5 · 61 + 4 · 60
71 = 1 · 62 + 5 · 61 + 5 · 60
72 = 2 · 62 + 0 · 61 + 0 · 60
73 = 2 · 62 + 0 · 61 + 1 · 60
74 = 2 · 62 + 0 · 61 + 2 · 60
2
In Problem 8.2, we write several numbers as sums of base-6 digit bundles. From these digit bundles
we construct base-6 numerals. Just as they do in base 10, the coefficients of the digit bundles become
the digits of the base-6 numerals:
63 = 1436 69 = 1536
64 = 1446 70 = 1546
65 = 1456 71 = 1556
66 = 1506 72 = 2006
67 = 1516 73 = 2016
68 = 1526 74 = 2026

Definition: When we write numerals using digits that represent the first b whole numbers
(0, 1, 2, . . . , b 2, b 1), we say that we are writing numbers in base b. We call b the base of the
number system. The base of a number system is also sometimes called the radix or scale.

In order to distinguish between numbers written in di↵erent bases, we write integers in number base
systems other than 10 using the base as a subscript. For instance, we write the first 36 counting numbers
in base 6 as
16 26 36 46 56 106
116 126 136 146 156 206
216 226 236 246 256 306
316 326 336 346 356 406
416 426 436 446 456 506
516 526 536 546 556 1006
Since we typically use the decimal system to express numbers, we normally leave o↵ the base-10
subscript. For instance, instead of writing 135410 , we simply write 1354.

Concept: In the decimal system, we write numerals based on bundles of 10. In base
6, we write numerals based on bundles of 6. In base b, we write numerals
based on bundles of b.

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8.3. BASE NUMBERS

Let’s take a look at some integers written in another number base. Here are the first 49 natural
numbers written in base 7, where we use only the digits 0 to 6 inclusive:

17 27 37 47 57 67 107
117 127 137 147 157 167 207
217 227 237 247 257 267 307
317 327 337 347 357 367 407
417 427 437 447 457 467 507
517 527 537 547 557 567 607
617 627 637 647 657 667 1007

Aside from the fact that the dimensions of the grid above are 7 ⇥ 7, we know that there are 49 integers
in the list because it counts up to the integer

1007 = 1 · 72 + 0 · 71 + 0 · 70 = 49.

Note that we write negative numbers in bases other than 10 too. For instance, we count down from
0 in base 7:
07 , 17 , 27 , 37 , 47 , 57 , 67 , 107 , 117 , . . .

Problem 8.3: How do we write the decimal integer 64 in base 8?

Solution for Problem 8.3: Since 64 = 82 = 1 · 82 + 0 · 81 + 0 · 80 , we get 64 = 1008 . 2

Sidenote: Most computer information is stored in base 2, also known as binary. The
↵ fact that base-2 numbers have only two digits, 0 and 1, makes them easier
to use in circumstances where someone would want to calculate by using
a system of on-o↵ switches (0 for “o↵”, 1 for “on”). Computers are often
made up of a series of binary switches.

Exercises

8.3.1 Write each of the following sums as a single base-8 numeral.

(a) 4 · 81 + 3 · 80 .
(b) 3 · 82 + 1 · 81 + 0 · 80 .
(c) 7 · 83 + 6 · 82 + 0 · 81 + 1 · 80 .
(d) 5 · 85 + 2 · 82 .
8.3.2 Write each of the following sums as a single base-4 numeral.
(a) 3 · 42 + 2 · 40 .
(b) 1 · 44 + 1 · 43 + 2 · 42 + 3 · 41 + 1 · 40 .
(c) 3 · 45 + 1 · 44 + 3 · 43 + 3 · 42 + 1 · 41 + 3 · 40 .
(d) 2 · 47 + 1 · 45 + 1 · 43 + 3 · 42 + 3 · 40 .

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CHAPTER 8. BASE NUMBERS

8.3.3 Write the first 16 counting numbers in base 4.

8.3.4 Write the first 36 counting numbers in base 5.
8.3.5 Write the first 49 counting numbers in base 6.
8.3.6 If we begin writing counting numbers in base 3, how would we write each of the following
numbers in our list?
(a) The eighth (d) The twelfth (g) The twenty-sixth
(b) The ninth (e) The thirteenth (h) The twenty-seventh
(c) The tenth (f) The fourteenth (i) The thirty-seventh

8.4 Base Number Digits

So far we’ve used no more than the 10 digits we use when writing numbers in decimal form. We use
fewer of them for bases smaller than 10. But we can bundle integers in bases larger than 10 too!

Problems

Problem 8.4: If we want to write integers in base 12, we’ll need 2 more digits in addition to the 10 we
already use. How can we write integers in base 12?

Sidenote: Some base number systems are common enough that we give them their
↵ own names. Here are some of the most commonly used names for base
number systems:
Base Number System

2 binary
3 ternary
4 quaternary
5 quinary
6 senary
7 septenary
8 octal
9 nonary
10 decimal
11 undenary
12 duodecimal
16 hexadecimal
20 vigesimal
60 sexagesimal

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