Tutorial: Decimal

Numbering Systems (Part One of Four: Starting With The Familiar Decimal System)

Representation of a quantity
  • Decimal: system based on 10
  • 10 symbols: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
  • Powers of 10

To explain binary and hexadecimal, we begin with decimal. All of these are number systems, which are the coding step to represent quantities. There are many ways of representing a quantity. Humans use the decimal number system; computers and data communication systems use the binary number system.

Decimal is a number system based on tens. There are ten symbols in the decimal number system: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Quantities are represented as powers of ten.

When expressing quantities in the decimal number system, we use a shorthand notation to indicate how many of which powers of ten are needed to make up the quantity.

mobile network components
Number Systems (First of Four Parts: Decimal)

For example, when we write the number "1967", what we mean is 1 x 103 + 9 x 102 + 6 x 101 + 7 x 100 .

This could also be written as (1 x 1000) + (9 x 100) + (6 x 10) + (7 x 1) . The digits 1, 9, 6, and 7 indicate, for the appropriate power of 10, how many of that power of ten go in to making up the quantity.

In other words, the numbers 1, 9, 6 and 7 are placeholders in our shorthand notation, indicating how many of the powers of ten in that place go in to making up the quantity.

Source: Teracom Course 101, Broadband, Telecom, Datacom and Networking for Non‑Engineers, Module 2: Understanding Data Communications, slide 2.05

Related Courses

These topics are covered in online certification courses: And instructor-led training courses:

Join thousands of satisfied customers including the FBI Training Academy, US Marine Corps Communications School, US Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, CISA, DISA, DoJ NSD, NSA and CIA, IRS, FAA, DND, CRA, CRTC, RCMP, banks, power companies, police forces, manufacturers, government, local and regional telcos, broadband carriers, individuals, telecom planners and administrators, finance, tax and accounting personnel and many more from hundreds of companies.

Benefit from decades of knowledge, insight and experience distilled into clear lessons designed for non‑engineers, logically organized to build one concept on another... in plain English. Teracom's GSA Contract supplying this training to the US government reflects approved quality and value that you can depend on.

we provide training to at&t             we provide training to verizon             we provide training to Bell Canada             microsoft             we provide training to intel             we provide training to cisco             GSA contract holder - pre-approved pricing and quality - supplier to the US Government             cox cable