maths.free › Number Theory › Number bases

Number bases

Converting between decimal, binary, octal and hexadecimal.

A base-b number is a sum of powers of b. To convert from decimal, divide by b repeatedly; the remainders, read from the last to the first, are the digits. Binary (base 2) and hexadecimal (base 16) are how computers store every number you see.

Worked example · 255 to binary

Number-Theory · Number-Bases

255 to binary

255,\ 2

Step by step

  1. 255_{10} \to \text{base } 2

    Repeatedly divide by 2; the remainders, read bottom-up, are the digits.

  2. 255 = 127 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  3. 127 = 63 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  4. 63 = 31 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  5. 31 = 15 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  6. 15 = 7 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  7. 7 = 3 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  8. 3 = 1 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

  9. 1 = 0 \times 2 + 1

    remainder 1

Reveal the answer
255_{10} = 11111111_{2}

Now you Pick a problem, or type or draw your own. Every step, a picture, the answer hidden until you ask.

Keep your own working

A free account adds notes on every lesson, a record of what you have finished, your solved problems in one place, and a tutor you can ask about this page. The maths itself is open to everyone, signed in or not.

Sign Up Login

Symbols used here

Tap any symbol for the full definition, a picture, and what every letter in it means.

How to: Number bases

  1. Repeatedly divide by 2; the remainders, read bottom-up, are the digits.
  2. remainder 1
  3. remainder 1
  4. remainder 1
  5. remainder 1
  6. remainder 1
  7. remainder 1
  8. remainder 1

Questions people ask

Why are primes so important?

Every integer factors into primes in exactly one way, so primes are the atoms of multiplication. Cryptography relies on that factoring being easy to state and hard to do.

How do I tell whether a big number is prime?

Trial division up to the square root works for small numbers. For large ones, probabilistic tests (Miller-Rabin) give an answer that is wrong with negligible probability, and deterministic tests (AKS) exist but are slower.

More in Number Theory

Prime factorisationPrime numbersGCD and LCMModular arithmeticDivisorsSequencesDiophantine equationsFermat's little theorem and Euler's theoremRSA: cryptography from number theory