Question 1

What are number bases (radixes)?

Accepted Answer

A number base (or radix) is the number of unique digits used to represent numbers. Decimal (base 10) uses digits 0-9, binary (base 2) uses 0 and 1, octal (base 8) uses 0-7, and hexadecimal (base 16) uses 0-9 and A-F. Different bases are useful in different computing contexts — binary for hardware, hex for memory addresses and colors, octal for Unix file permissions.

Question 2

Why is hexadecimal used in programming?

Accepted Answer

Hexadecimal (base 16) is popular in programming because each hex digit maps exactly to 4 binary digits (bits), making it a compact way to represent binary data. For example, the byte 11111111 in binary is simply FF in hex. This makes hex ideal for representing memory addresses, color codes (#FF0000), MAC addresses, and binary data in a human-readable format.

Question 3

How does binary relate to computing?

Accepted Answer

Computers operate using electrical signals that are either on or off, which naturally maps to binary (base 2) with digits 0 and 1. All data in a computer — numbers, text, images — is ultimately stored and processed as sequences of binary digits (bits). Understanding binary is fundamental to understanding how computers work at the hardware level.

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