What is the purpose of the hexadecimal numbering system?

Hexadecimal number system is a number sytem with a Base of 16. The 'regular' system which we use every day is base-ten (decimal), with the digits 0-9.

Having a base 16 system makes it easier to represent values of computer memory, as computers deal in binary (base 2), where every value is either one or zero (on or off).

With hexadecimal, the digit values range from zero to fifteen, so symbols are needed to represent ten, eleven, ... fifteen as single digits. The letters A through F were chosen, so:

• A represents ten
• B = eleven
• C = twelve
• D = thirteen
• E = fourteen
• F = fifteen