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Lesson 02
Indices & Number System

A113 – Mathematics
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Decimal Number System

• A number system defines how a number can be
represented using distinct symbols.
• In a decimal number system (base 10), there are
10 symbols used:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
• It is inconvenient to create a new symbol to
represent the next larger quantity so humans
designed a systematic way of combining existing
symbols to represent larger quantities:
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, …
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Binary, Octal and Hexadecimal

• In computers, there are only 2 states:
“On” and “Off”
• Hence, computers use the binary number
system (base 2) with only 2 symbols:
0, 1
• Another two common number systems are octal
(base 8) and hexadecimal (base 16), which are used
to represent long binary numbers by grouping them.
• Octal number system contains 8 symbols: How to have
6 more
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 symbols?

• Hexadecimal number system contains 16 symbols:

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F 3
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Common Number Systems

System Base Symbols
Decimal 10 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Binary 2 0, 1
Octal 8 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Hexadecimal 16 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
A, B, C, D, E, F

When writing numbers in number systems that

are not decimal, the base is written in
subscript beside the number. For example,
11002 → Binary (base 2)
12348 → Octal (base 8)
9AB16 → Hexadecimal (base 16)
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Conversion from other base to decimal

For example, to convert 100102 from binary

(base 2) to decimal, we can do the following:
Determine the positional
value of each digit.
Binary
1 0 0 1 0 This corresponds to
number increasing powers of the
Positional base, starting with 0
24 23 22 21 20 power from the
value rightmost position.

1 × 24 + 0 × 23 + 0 × 22 + 1 × 21 + 0 × 20 = 18
Multiply the digits by the positional values in the corresponding
columns and sum up the products. The obtained value is the
equivalent decimal number.

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Conversion from decimal to other base

For example, to convert 551 from decimal to

octal (base 8), we can use the following method:
Remainder

8 551 Divide the decimal number by the value of

8 68 7 the new base. Record the quotient and
remainder as shown. Repeat until the
8 8 4 quotient becomes 0.
8 1 0
0 1

The rearranged remainder, from bottom

Hence, 551 = 10478 to top, is the equivalent value of the new
base number.

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Windows Calculator (Programmer Mode)

Windows calculator can be used to do
conversion for numbers in the common base:

Switch to programmer
mode using this tab
Select the input
number system and
key in the value
Eg. Select decimal
and key in 125
Conversions to other
number systems such as
Binary, Octal and
Hexadecimal will be shown

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Excel Formulas
Excel formulas can be used to do the following
conversions:
• Convert number from other base to decimal
→ = DECIMAL(number, base)
For example, to convert 1234 from base 4 to decimal,

These formulas
can be used for
all bases
• Convert number from decimal to other base
→ = BASE(number, base)
For example, to convert 567 from decimal to base 4,

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Grouping Method

For example,
1010111001102 = 53468 = AE616
Conversion from binary to octal
→ Group the digits into 3 and convert to decimal
Binary 101 011 100 110
Octal 5 3 4 6

Conversion from binary to hexadecimal

→ Group the digits into 4 and convert to decimal
Binary 1010 1110 0110
Hexadecimal A E 6
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Addition and Subtraction

• Addition and subtraction can only be carried
out for numbers in the same base.
• Hence, it is important to convert the numbers to
the same base before performing addition or
subtraction.
• For example, to do 1616 + 178 in base 8

Convert to base 8:
1616 → 268
Addition can then be carried out in the
same base:
268 + 178
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Addition
For example, Octal
Decimal
(Base 8)
to do 268 + 178 in base 8, 0 08
1 18
2 28
1
2 68 3
4
38
48
+ 1 78 5 58
6 68
4 58 7 78
68 + 78 = ? 8 108
Skip 8, 9
as these
9 118 symbols
10 128 do not
11 138 exist in
base 8
12 148
13 158
14 168
15 178
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Subtraction
For example,
to do 318 − 168 in base 8,

2 9
3 18 The value
borrowed is 8:
− 1 68 1+8=9
1 38

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Windows Calculator (Programmer Mode)

• Windows calculator can also be used to do

addition and subtraction for numbers in the
common base.
• Use the Windows calculator to compute the
following:
 268 + 178 in base 8
 318 − 168 in base 8
 1516 − 208 in base 2

Check your answers using the

windows calculator

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Recap: BODMAS

We will now look into multiple terms

involving “power”.
For example, 23 × 25
How can we combine these terms?

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Who is correct?

Adam Betty

23 × 25 23 × 25
= 23 + 5 = 23 × 5
= 28 = 215

Who chose Adam? Who chose Betty?

Please explain your answers

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Indices
• Indices, exponents or powers represent the
number of times the base is multiplied by itself.
Index or
exponent or
• For example, power
23 = 2 × 2 × 2 = 8
Base
Multiplied 3 times

• To manipulate expressions involving indices, we use

rules known as the laws of indices.

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Laws of Indices

Product law: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 × 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚+𝑛𝑛

𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚
Quotient law: = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚−𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛

Power law: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Explanation
𝑥𝑥 3 × 𝑥𝑥 2 = 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥
= 𝑥𝑥 3+2
= 𝑥𝑥 5

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Laws of Indices

Product law: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 × 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚+𝑛𝑛

𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚
Quotient law: = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚−𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛

Power law: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Explanation
𝑥𝑥 5 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥
=
𝑥𝑥 2 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥 1
5−2
= 𝑥𝑥
= 𝑥𝑥 3
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Laws of Indices

Product law: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 × 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚+𝑛𝑛

𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚
Quotient law: = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚−𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛

Power law: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Explanation
𝑥𝑥 2 3 = 𝑥𝑥 2 × 𝑥𝑥 2 × 𝑥𝑥 2
= 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥 × 𝑥𝑥
= 𝑥𝑥 2×3
= 𝑥𝑥 6
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Laws of Indices
Power of 0: 𝑥𝑥 0 = 1 where 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 0

Power of 1: 𝑥𝑥 1 = 𝑥𝑥
1
Negative power: = 𝑥𝑥 −𝑛𝑛 where 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 0
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛
𝑚𝑚
𝑛𝑛
Fractional power: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 where 𝑛𝑛 ≠ 0

Explanation
𝑥𝑥 3 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥 1 𝑥𝑥 3 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥
= =
𝑥𝑥 3 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥 1 𝑥𝑥 2 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥 1
=1 = 𝑥𝑥
= 𝑥𝑥 0 = 𝑥𝑥 1
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Laws of Indices
Power of 0: 𝑥𝑥 0 = 1 where 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 0

Power of 1: 𝑥𝑥 1 = 𝑥𝑥
1
Negative power: = 𝑥𝑥 −𝑛𝑛 where 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 0
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛
𝑚𝑚
𝑛𝑛
Fractional power: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 where 𝑛𝑛 ≠ 0

Explanation
𝑥𝑥 3 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥 1
=
𝑥𝑥 5 𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥×𝑥𝑥
1
= 2
𝑥𝑥
= 𝑥𝑥 −2 21
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Laws of Indices
Power of 0: 𝑥𝑥 0 = 1 where 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 0

Power of 1: 𝑥𝑥 1 = 𝑥𝑥
1
Negative power: = 𝑥𝑥 −𝑛𝑛 where 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 0
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛
𝑚𝑚
𝑛𝑛
Fractional power: 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 where 𝑛𝑛 ≠ 0

Explanation
𝑥𝑥 2 = 𝑥𝑥
1 1
2×2
𝑥𝑥 2 2 = 𝑥𝑥 = 𝑥𝑥 1

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Solving Equations involving Exponents

To apply laws of indices, ensure that the

equation has the same base throughout.
For example,
𝑥𝑥+1 2𝑥𝑥
4 =
8
2 𝑥𝑥
22 𝑥𝑥+1 = 3 Change to same base
2
2𝑥𝑥+2 𝑥𝑥−3 Apply law of indices to reduce to a single
2 =2 base on each side

2𝑥𝑥 + 2 = 𝑥𝑥 − 3 Compare exponents

𝑥𝑥 = −5 Solve for x

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Summary: Laws of Indices

Laws of Indices:

Given 𝑥𝑥 > 0 and 𝑦𝑦 > 0,

𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 × 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚+𝑛𝑛 ,
𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚
= 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚−𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 = 𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛 𝑦𝑦 𝑛𝑛
1
= 𝑥𝑥 −𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑛𝑛
𝑚𝑚
𝑛𝑛
𝑥𝑥 𝑚𝑚 = 𝑥𝑥 , where 𝑛𝑛 > 0
𝑛𝑛

𝑥𝑥 0 = 1
𝑥𝑥 1 = 𝑥𝑥

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