Introduction to Number Systems

Introduction 

Number systems use different number bases. A number base indicates how many different digits are available when using a particular numbering system. For example, decimal is number base 10, which means it uses ten digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Binary is number base 2, which means that is uses two digits: 0 and 1. Different number bases are needed for different purposes. Humans use number base 10 whereas computers use binary.

The number base determines how many digits are needed to represent a number. For example, the number 78 in decimal (base 10) requires two digits. The binary (base 2) equivalent is 1001110 which requires seven digits. As a consequence of this, there are many occasions in computing when very long binary numbers are needed. To solve this problem, other number bases can be used, which require fewer digits to represent numbers. For example, some aspects of computing use number base 16 which is referred to as hexadecimal.

Natural Number Definition

As explained in the introduction part, Natural numbers are the numbers which are positive in nature and includes numbers from 1 till infinity(∞). These numbers are countable and are generally used for calculation purpose.  The set of natural numbers are represented by the letter “N”.