INTRODUCTION TO HEX Hex 101 - base numbers overview -hex is a base 16 expression of numberical values. regular numbers are base 10, i.e. 1 10 20 30 40 (decimal). hex was derived from binary coded decimal (BCD) binary coded decimal placement bit value 8 4 2 1 -------- 1 1 1 1 = 15 F = 15 F = 1 1 1 1 binary hex characters 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F hex numerical value equavalent 0 - 9 = 0 - 9 A = 10 B = 11 C = 12 D = 13 E = 14 F = 15 --------------------------------- byte = 8 bits byte of hex FF example FF = 255 decimal (unsigned; no negative or algebraic numbers) FF = 1111 1111 binary 0F = 15 decimal 0F = 0000 1111 binary ---------------------------------- word OF hex 16 bits or 2 Bytes FF FF 1111 1111 1111 1111 binary usigned decimal FFFF = 65535 dec ---------------------------------- so hex values weight are give by the least on the very right to the most to the farther left. opposite of decimal values ; why? because hex was derived from binary and the fact is binary is weighted the same way. binary bit values are in the format of 2 ^ n (POWER OF 2 ) 2^0 = 1 2^1 = 2 2^2 = 4 2^3 = 8 2^4 = 16 2^5 = 32 2^6 = 64 2^7 = 128 2^8 = 256 2^9 = 512 AND SO ON... bit placement values 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 binary 0010 0000 0000 = 512 02 00 hex = 512 note 0010 = 2 in hex but sence the 02 hex is farther left in 0x0200h the decimal weight value is greater equaling 512 decimal ------------------------------------------ binary brief ( nibble = 4 bits) to HEX 0000 = 0 0001 = 1 0010 = 2 0011 = 3 0100 = 4 0101 = 5 0110 = 6 0111 = 7 1000 = 8 1001 = 9 1010 = A 1011 = B 1100 = C 1101 = D 1110 = E 1111 = F bits are added to total sum ----------------------- ascii and hex dec character equavalents end of indroduction.