lamicedaxeH?

Now...you're probably wondering what I'm talking about if you've read the title. Well the truth is that even I'm not quite sure what I'm talking about. Here let me fix that

lamicedaxeH-------->Hexadecimal

Yes, we're learning about Hexadecimal, the base 16 number system. As you all know we follow the base 10 number system and we have already explored binary the base 2 number system (Refer to "Computers? Those are ancient!" for more information.

This is how Hexadecimal works:

-Place values increase by multiplying by 16 (E.G. 1, 16, 32, etc.)
-We can place numbers up to "9" in place value columns
-Letters (A-F) are used after 9

A=10
B=11
C=12
D=13
E=14
F=15

And after F(15) you would naturally move to the next column, since Hexadecimal is the base 16 number system. To understand this concept better lets look at an example. Let's say you want to represent the number 17 using Hexadecimal, it would be done like so:



So the number 17 would be represented as "11" using Hexadecimal. Since we have 16(x1) and 1(x1).

The most common use of Hexadecimal, which we discussed in class is used to define values of RGB(Red, Green, Blue). Different values of the colours red, green and blue are what allow our computer monitors to display the wide range of colours that they do today. Different values of red, green and blue are applied to make these colours and Hexadecimal is what defines these values. The most vital piece of information that you need to know is that there are 255 levels of each colour, red, green and blue.

Another example can be used here to make this idea clear. If you want the colour pure red you would use the Hexadecimal code:

FF0000

The FF symbolizes all 255 levels of red. The first two zeros symbolize zero values of green and the last two zeros symbolize 0 values of blue. Leaving you with pure red. Using Hexadecimal you can go from 00 to FF for red green and blue. You need the right amount of each colour to create the right shade.

Since we have 255 levels of each colour. In total we have the possibility of 16.7 million colours, that's a lot to work with. Hexadecimal codes help us assign a specific code to each one of these colours making them much easier to use.

To sum all that up...Hexadecimal is just another thing that makes our already complicated lives slightly simpler!