4.10. Exercises

  1. What are the decimal and hexadecimal representations for the value 0b01001010?

  2. What are the binary and hexadecimal representations for the value 389?

  3. As a five-armed creature, Sally the starfish prefers to represent numbers using a base 5 number system. If Sally gives you the base 5 number 1423, what is the equivalent decimal value?

  4. Early Access Interactive Number Conversion Questions

Solutions

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  1. 0b01001010 in decimal is:

    (0 * 27)    +    (1 * 26)    +    (0 * 25)    +    (0 * 24)    +    (1 * 23)    +    (0 * 22)    +    (1 * 21)    +    (0 * 20)

      =    0 + 64 + 0 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 2 + 0    =    74

    In hexadecimal, it’s:

    0100 1010
      4    A  ->  0x4A
  2. Converting 389 to decimal…​

    Using powers of two:

    • 256 fits into 389, so d8 should be a 1. That leaves 389 - 256 = 133.

    • 128 fits into 133, so d7 should be a 1. That leaves 133 - 128 = 5.

    • 64 does not fit into 5, so d6 should be a 0.

    • 32 does not fit into 5, so d5 should be a 0.

    • 16 does not fit into 5, so d4 should be a 0.

    • 8 does not fit into 5, so d3 should be a 0.

    • 4 fits into 5, so d2 should be a 1. That leaves 6 - 5 = 1.

    • 2 fits does not fit into 1, so d1 should be a 0.

    • 1 fits into 1, so d0 should be a 1. That leaves 1 - 1 = 0.

      Thus, decimal 389 corresponds to 0b110000101.


      Using repeated division:

    • 389 is odd, so d0 should be a 1.

    • 389 / 2 = 194, which is even, so d1 should be a 0.

    • 194 / 2 = 97, which is odd, so d2 should be a 1.

    • 97 / 2 = 48, which is even, so d3 should be a 0.

    • 48 / 2 = 24, which is even, so d4 should be a 0.

    • 24 / 2 = 12, which is even, so d5 should be a 0.

    • 12 / 2 = 6, which is even, so d6 should be a 0.

    • 6 / 2 = 3, which is odd, so d7 should be a 1.

    • 3 / 2 = 1, which is odd, so d8 should be a 1.

    • 1 / 2 = 0, so any digit numbered nine or above will be 0.

      Thus, decimal 389 corresponds to 0b110000101.

      Converting to hexadecimal:

      0001 1000 0101
        1    8    5  ->  0x185
  3. 1423 in base 5 converted to decimal is:

    (1 * 53)    +    (4 * 52)    +    (2 * 51)    +    (3 * 50)

      =    125 + 100 + 10 + 3    =    238