Hexadecimal

Hexadecimal (also known as base-16 or simply hex) is a <a href="/facts/Numeral_system/1KKlG4nd">positional numeral system</a> that represents numbers using a <a href="/facts/Radix/J5RGWRJF">radix</a> (base) of sixteen. Unlike the <a href="/facts/Decimal/7omfVNIM">decimal</a> system representing numbers using ten symbols, hexadecimal uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols "0"–"9" to represent values 0 to 9 and "A"–"F" to represent values from ten to fifteen.
Software developers and system designers widely use hexadecimal numbers because they provide a convenient representation of <a href="/facts/Binary_code/v5YF0sQl">binary-coded</a> values. Each hexadecimal digit represents four <a href="/facts/Bit/S972NSaD">bits</a> (binary digits), also known as a <a href="/facts/Nibble/PUaqCEVw">nibble</a> (or nybble). For example, an 8-bit <a href="/facts/Byte/BNHUp9Qq">byte</a> is two hexadecimal digits and its value can be written as 00 to FF in hexadecimal.
In mathematics, a subscript is typically used to specify the base. For example, the decimal value 711 would be expressed in hexadecimal as 2C716. In programming, several notations denote hexadecimal numbers, usually involving a prefix. The prefix 0x is used in <a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a>, which would denote this value as 0x2C7.
Hexadecimal is used in the transfer encoding Base 16, in which each byte of the <a href="/facts/Plaintext/tWnBDCgE">plain text</a> is broken into two 4-bit values and represented by two hexadecimal digits.

Hexadecimal open-in-new

Hexadecimal