What is Radix or Base of a Number System?

The number of independent digits used in the number system is known as Radix or Base of the number system.

  • Decimal: a radix-10 number system and therefore has 10 different digits or symbols. These are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. All higher numbers after ‘9’ are represented in terms of these 10 digits only.
  • Binary: a radix-2 number system (2 different digits are 0 and 1).
  • Hexadecimal: a radix-16 number system (16 different digits are 0 to 9 and A,B,C,D,E,F representing 10, 11, 12,13,14,15 respectively).
  • Octal: a radix-8 number system (8 different digits are 0 to 7).
  • Radix-r: digits are 0,1,…,r-1

Few Relevant Questions and Answers

Question: How many digits are there in the base/radix 9 number system?
Answer: There are 9 digits in the base/radix 9 number system.
Question: What is the largest digit in the base/radix 9 number system?
Answer: ‘8’ is the largest digit in the base/radix 9 number system. The digits are 0, 1, 2, …. 7, 8.
Question: Whether ‘431’ is a base/radix 4 number system?
Answer: No, ‘431’ can not be a base/radix 4 number system. As ‘3’ is the largest digit in the case of the base 4 number system.

 

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