Number systems
Positional notations representing numbers using different bases (binary-2, decimal-10, hexadecimal-16). Different bases suit different purposes—binary for computing, decimal for humans, hexadecimal for compactness. Converting between bases involves repeated division or multiplication.
Formula
Decimal to base-n: repeatedly divide by n, read remainders bottom-to-top
Real World
When a software developer at Google inspects a crash log, memory addresses appear in hexadecimal (e.g. 0x7FFF5FBFF8A0) because reading 48 binary digits would be impractical.
Exam Focus
Show every step of repeated division clearly — examiners award method marks even if the final answer contains a minor arithmetic slip.
How well did you know this?