What are Hexadecimals?

Hexadecimals, also known as hex numbers or simply hex, are a type of numerical system used in computing and other digital applications. Hexadecimal is based on the number 16 and uses the digits 0 through 9 along with letters A through F to represent values from 0 to 15. This allows for a single digit to represent four binary bits (bits being either 1 or 0).

The name “hex” comes from the fact that it has sixteen possible combinations of characters; hence its base-16 numbering system. In contrast, decimal (base 10) only has ten possible digits (0-9). The prefix ‘hex’ is derived from the Greek word for six which was ‘hexa’.

Let’s take a look at how hexadecimal works:

Decimal     Binary         Hex      Value  
----------  -----------    ----     -----  
   0          0000          00        0      
   1          0001          01        1     
   2          0010          02        2     
   3          0011          03        3     

As you can see above each value in decimal corresponds to its equivalent in both binary and hexadecimal notation. For example, if we wanted to convert 5 into binary we would start by looking up 5 in the first column and then finding its corresponding value in both columns two and three – 1010 & 05 respectively. In this way it is quite easy to convert between different bases when you know what their equivalents are!

There are various reasons why people use hex over other forms of representation such as octal or decimal systems. One advantage of using hex is that it takes less space than traditional representations because each character contains more information than one byte does when represented as an 8 bit binary number string; making data storage much more efficient! Additionally, since each character carries 4 bits rather than just 8 there will be fewer characters required overall meaning faster processing speeds too! Finally, many programming languages have built-in support for working with numbers expressed using this system so they can be manipulated quickly without having to worry about any conversion issues beforehand – something very helpful indeed!

In conclusion, knowing how to work with different numerical systems such as those found within computers can not only help make things easier but also save time/space when dealing with large amounts of data – making them invaluable tools for anyone who works with computers on a regular basis!