Number systems
Hasan Alwazzan • 10 Jun 2025 •
Got a Computer Science exam tomorrow so I’ll talk about Binary Numbers and Number Systems which is part of the content.
Most people don’t realize that the decimal (base 10) system is not the only valid way to represent numbers. We’ve gotten so used to it but when you really think about it, what’s so special about ten (other than the fact that we have ten fingers)? We could have very well made a new symbol for ten like “Ϟ” and then “10” could represent eleven. So the numbers would go like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Ϟ, 10, 11, 12, 13… In this system (base 11) we can represent a larger amount with less digits (we only need 1 symbol for ten). We can increase the amount of symbols and go up to higher bases like base 16 and base 64, and go less like base 8 and base 2. What’s cool is that computers use base 2, also known as “Binary” which is a number system with only 2 symbols, 1 and 0, ON or OFF. Numbers go like this: 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110. Because you only have 2 symbols you need to add new digits more often.
Comments
@haideralmosawi Thanks! It went well (I hope). What makes them challenging to write?
When you’re familiar with a field, it’s hard to distinguish between what you know and what beginners might not know. So you assume they know more than they do. This is known as the Curse of Knowledge.
I once attended a python workshop where the instructor assumed those attending are already familiar with programming (many weren’t). And he said “of course…” a number of times when what he was presenting wouldn’t be obvious to anyone outside his field.
Best of luck on your exam! And I love explanations of fundamental ideas. They can be really challenging to write, but they open up a world of ideas to readers!