NUMBER SYSTEM

Number systems are the technique to represent numbers in the computer system architecture,
every value that you are saving or getting into/from computer memory has a defined number
system.

Computer architecture supports following number systems.

1. Binary number system 2. Octal number system 3. Decimal number system

4. Hexadecimal (hex) number system

BINARY NUMBER SYSTEM

A Binary number system has only two digits that are 0 and 1. Every number (value) represents
with 0 and 1 in this number system. The base of binary number system is 2, because it has only
two digits.

OCTAL NUMBER SYSTEM

Octal number system has only eight (8) digits from 0 to 7. Every number (value) represents with
0,1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 in this number system. The base of octal number system is 8, because it has
only 8 digits.

DECIMAL NUMBER SYSTEM

Decimal number system has only ten (10) digits from 0 to 9. Every number (value) represents with
0,1,2,3,4,5,6, 7,8 and 9 in this number system. The base of decimal number system is 10, because
it has only 10 digits.

HEXADECIMAL NUMBER SYSTEM

A Hexadecimal number system has sixteen (16) alphanumeric values from 0 to 9 and A to F.
Every number (value) represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, 7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E and F in this number system.
The base of hexadecimal number system is 16, because it has 16 alphanumeric values. Here A is
10, B is 11, C is 12, D is 14, E is 15 and F is 16.
Number system Base(Radix) Used digits Example

Binary 2 0,1 (11110000)2

Octal 8 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (360)8

Decimal 10 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 (240)10

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,
Hexadecimal 16 (F0)16
A,B,C,D,E,F
CONVERSIONS
DECIMAL TO OTHER
1. DECIMAL TO BINARY

Decimal Number System to Other Base

To convert Number system from Decimal Number System to Any Other Base is quite easy; you
have to follow just two steps:
A) Divide the Number (Decimal Number) by the base of target base system (in which you
want to convert the number: Binary (2), octal (8) and Hexadecimal (16)).
B) Write the remainder from step 1 as a Least Signification Bit (LSB) to Step last as a Most
Significant Bit (MSB).
Decimal to Binary Conversion Result
Decimal Number is : (12345)10

Binary Number is
(11000000111001)2

2. DECIMAL TO OCTAL
Decimal to Octal Conversion Result
Decimal Number is : (12345)10

Octal Number is
(30071)8
3. DECIMAL TO HEXADECIMAL

Decimal to Hexadecimal Conversion Result

Example 1
Decimal Number is : (12345)10

Hexadecimal Number is
(3039)16

Example 2
Decimal Number is : (725)10 Hexadecimal Number is
(2D5)16 Convert
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
to its equivalent...
A, B, C, D, E, F

BINARY TO OTHER
A) Multiply the digit with 2(with place value exponent). Eventually add all the multiplication
becomes the Decimal number.
1. BINARY TO DECIMAL

2. BINARY TO OCTAL
An easy way to convert from binary to octal is to group binary digits into sets of three, starting
with the least significant (rightmost) digits.
Binary: 11100101 = 11 100 101
011 100 101 Pad the most significant digits with zeros if
necessary to complete a group of three.
Then, look up each group in a table:
Binary: 000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111
Octal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Binary = 011 100 101

Octal = 3 4 5 = 345 oct

3. BINARY TO HEXADECIMAL
An equally easy way to convert from binary to hexadecimal is to group binary digits into sets of
four, starting with the least significant (rightmost) digits.

Binary: 11100101 = 1110 0101

Then, look up each group in a table:

Binary: 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111
Hexadecimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Binary: 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111
Hexadecimal: 8 9 A B C D E F

Binary = 1110 0101

Hexadecimal = E 5 = E5 hex
OCTAL TO OTHER

1. OCTAL TO BINARY
Converting from octal to binary is as easy as converting from binary to octal. Simply look up each
octal digit to obtain the equivalent group of three binary digits.
Octal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Binary: 000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111

Octal = 3 4 5

Binary = 011 100 101 = 011100101 binary

2. OCTAL TO HEXADECIMAL
When converting from octal to hexadecimal, it is often easier to first convert the octal number
into binary and then from binary into hexadecimal. For example, to convert 345 octal into hex:
(from the previous example)
Octal = 3 4 5

Binary = 011 100 101 = 011100101 binary

Drop any leading zeros or pad with leading zeros to get groups of four binary digits (bits): Binary
011100101 = 1110 0101

Then, look up the groups in a table to convert to hexadecimal digits.

Binary: 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111

Hexadecimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Binary: 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

Hexadecimal: 8 9 A B C D E F

Binary = 1110 0101

Hexadecimal = E 5 = E5 hex

Therefore, through a two-step conversion process, octal 345 equals binary 011100101 equals
hexadecimal E5.

3. OCTAL TO DECIMAL
The conversion can also be performed in the conventional mathematical way, by showing each
digit place as an increasing power of 8.

345 octal = (3 * 82) + (4 * 81) + (5 * 80) = (3 * 64) + (4 * 8) + (5 * 1) = 229 decimal

OR

Converting octal to decimal can be done with repeated division.

1. Start the decimal result at 0.

2. Remove the most significant octal digit (leftmost) and add it to the result.
3. If all octal digits have been removed, you’re done. Stop.
4. Otherwise, multiply the result by 8.
5. Go to step 2.

Octal Digits Operation Decimal Result Operation Decimal Result

345 +3 3 ×8 24
45 +4 28 ×8 224
5 +5 229 done.

 (345)8 =(229)10
HEXADECIMAL TO OTHER
1. HEXADECIMAL TO BINARY

Converting from hexadecimal to binary is as easy as converting from binary to hexadecimal.

Simply look up each hexadecimal digit to obtain the equivalent group of four binary digits.
Hexadecimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Binary: 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111
Hexadecimal: 8 9 A B C D E F
Binary: 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

Hexadecimal = A 2 D E

Binary = 1010 0010 1101 1110 = 1010001011011110 binary

2. HEXADECIMAL TO OCTAL
1's complement
The 1's complement of a number is found by changing all 1's to 0's and all 0's to 1's. This is called
as taking complement or 1's complement. Example of 1's Complement is as follows.

Binary Addition

It is a key for binary subtraction, multiplication, division. There are four rules of binary addition.

In fourth case, a binary addition is creating a sum of (1 + 1 = 10) i.e. 0 is written in the given
column and a carry of 1 over to the next column.
Example − Addition

2's complement
The 2's complement of binary number is obtained by adding 1 to the Least Significant Bit (LSB)
of 1's complement of the number.

2's complement = 1's complement + 1

Example of 2's Complement is as follows.

Rules of Binary Addition

• 0 + 0 = 0
• 0 + 1 = 1
• 1 + 0 = 1
• 1 + 1 = 0, and carry 1 to the next more significant bit

For example, 00011010 + 00001100 = 00100110 1 1 Carries

0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 = 26(base 10)
+ 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 = 12(base 10)

0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 = 38(base 10)

00010011 + 00111110 = 01010001 1 1 1 1 1 carries

 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 = 19(base 10)
+ 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 = 62(base 10)

0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 = 81(base 10)

Rules of Binary Multiplication

• 0 x 0 = 0
• 0 x 1 = 0
• 1 x 0 = 0
• 1 x 1 = 1, and no carry or borrow bits

For example,

00101001 × 00000110 = 11110110 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 = 41(base 10)

× 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 = 6(base 10)

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1

0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 = 246(base 10)

Binary Division
Binary division is the repeated process of subtraction, just as in decimal division.

For example,

00101010 ÷ 00000110 = 1 1 1 = 7(base 10)

00000111

1 1 0 ) 0 0 1 10 1 0 1 0 = 42(base 10)
- 1 1 0 = 6(base 10)

1 borrows
1 0 10 1 - 1
1 0

1 1 0
- 1 1 0

0
 10000111 ÷ 00000101 = 1 1 0 1 1 = 27(base 10)
00011011

135(base
1 0 1 ) 1 0 0 10 0 1 1 1 = 10)
- 1 0 1 = 5(base 10)

1 1 10

- 1 0 1

1 1

- 0

1 1 1

- 1 0 1

1 0 1
- 1 0 1

Example − Division