Octal Number System

octal number system (base-8)
The octal number system uses eight values to represent numbers. The values are,
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
With 0 having the least value and seven having the greatest value. Columns are utilized in the same way as in the decimal system, in that the left most column is utilized to represent the greatest value. As we have seen in the decimal system, the values in the set (0 and 1) repeat, in both the vertical and horizontal directions.
0 – 7, 10 -17, 20 – 27, 30 – 37. . . . . .

Example convert 176 in octal to decimal.

Every column represents a power of 8,
264 becomes. . . . .
4 * 80 = 4
6 * 81 = 48
2 * 82 = 128
Adding the outcomes together gives 180 (in decimal)

Octal was utilized extensively in early mainframe computer schemes, but has become less frequent in favour of binary and hexadecimal today.

Posted by musicking on Nov 3 2010. Filed under Results. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry