SYS 140 Week 1 Journal - ryanm292002/Ryans-Repository GitHub Wiki

Computers and humans use different symbols for use in calculations. The first system, called the base of 10 or the decimal system which is what humans use consists of 9 symbols, 0-9. After you reach 9 you add a 1 to the left and change the digit to the right to zero then keep on adding to the right column till you hit 9 again then you can change the left digit to 2. This system is called the decimal system. Another number system that exists is called binary which is used by computers, in computers there are little electric switches that can be turned on and off which is represented by the numbers 1 and 0. In binary every digit added to the left is still 2x greater than the right digit even though only 1 and 0 are used, so it goes from 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, 32x, 64x, 128x. Another used number system is octal or base 8 which uses 8 digits. In octal you basically count up to 7 on the decimal side of things but once you get to 8 on the decimal side the octal side goes to 8 and then once you hit 16 it adds another 2 and the octal side goes up to 20, 24 converts to 30 and it keeps on going as you go up multiples of 8. There are many other number systems but once you get above base 12 not only numbers are used in counting but the alphabet is as well. For example in the hexadecimal or the base 16 system numbers go all the way to 9 but after 9 it changes to the alphabet and goes from A to F which makes a total of (1-9, A-F) and then you start on 10 after F and once you hit 19 after you switch back to the alphabet starting with 1A and then for the next set after the numbers use 2A then 3A and just continue like that. Hexadecimal is often used in programming and other computer programs, it can be seen in shortened links and also in JavaScript Code which can be represented using the symbol 0x. Converting from one to another can be challenging depending on which way you are converting but any binary conversion whether you're going to or from involves you breaking the binary code into groups of 4, if the binary does not split up evenly into groups of 4 you just add zero to the left of the left most group.