Binary--the basis of computing

Binary is a base 2 8-bit number system represented by the numeric values of 0 or

1, also known as OFF or ON, and is the primary language that computers use to
communicate.Today's computers still use binary because it is the easiest and most
efficient method of detecting an electrical signal as being either off or on, detecting
magnetic poles with magnetic media like a hard drive, and because it is the most
efficient way to control logic circuits.

Octal
Octal is another number system with less symbols to use than our conventional
number system. Octal is fancy for Base Eight meaning eight symbols are used to
represent all the quantities. They are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. When we count up
one from the 7, we need a new placement to represent what we call 8 since an 8
doesn't exist in Octal. So, after 7 is 10.

Decimal
The most commonly used number system is decimal. This is based on the number 10 and
numbers in the system use the digits 0 to 9. That is ten digits in all. An example of a 10
based number is 123. This can be thought of as: 1 one hundred, plus 2 tens, plus 3 ones.
The table below shows how this can be represented.
hundr
eds
1

tens

ones

Alternatively referred to as base 10, decimal is a numbering system comprised of

the numerals 0 to 9 that was first used by the Chinese in 1350 B.C.

Hexadecimal numbering system

Alternatively referred to as Base 16 and hex, the hexadecimal numbering system
uses combinations of 16 character digits to represent all numerical values. In
addition to the ten numbers in the decimal system (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9),
hexadecimal also uses the letters A through F to create a hexadecimal number. For
example, "computer hope" in hexadecimal becomes
"636f6d707574657220686f7065".
Anyone who has designed a web page has encountered hexadecimal value when
doing colors. For example, to create red text use the HTML color code #FF0000,
which translates to 255 Red, 0 Green, and 0 Blue in hexadecimal.