All You Need to Know About Numbers

There are various ways in which we write numbers. In simple words, we have various ways of representing numbers. All such methods and ways of writing and representing numbers are known as a number system. 

What are numbers? 

We all make use of numbers in daily life, especially to do counting such as counting money or other things. Numbers are also called mathematical values that help in understanding the value of different series of numbers. However, even if you want to do mathematical calculations, you should know the meaning and value of numbers. There are different types of numbers such as natural numbers, whole numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, etc. Natural numbers include all types of numbers from 0 to infinity but in whole numbers, 0 is excluded, it includes numbers from 1 to infinity. 

Other types of numbers are even numbers and odd numbers. If you can divide a number by digit 2 then such a number is an even number but if the number is not divisible by 2 then it is an odd number. 

Meaning of a number system 

The way that we use to express or represent numbers is known as number systems. Each way or method expresses the different values of numbers represented in different ways.

Types of number systems 

There is not only a single type of a number system but there are mainly four types of number systems in which numbers are represented. Such four types of number systems are decimal number system, binary number system, octal number system, hexadecimal number system. Let us understand all the types of number systems one by one. 

Decimal number system: When a series of numbers is represented by using a decimal is known as a decimal number system. This type of number system always has a base of 10. The numbers that are written on the left side of the decimal express the units of the numbers such as tenth, hundredth, thousandth, etc. Let us understand with an example, 1398.00, in this example, the numbers on the left side of the decimal are 1398. In this number series, 8 is in the ones place, 9 is in the tens place, 3 is in the thousands place, and 1 is in the ten thousand places. You can also write it as (1X10³) + (3X10²) + (9X10¹) + (8X1), on solving this series, you will get 1398 as the answer. 

Binary number system: In this type of number system, only two numbers are used and those two numbers are 0 and 1. Due to this reason, this type of number system is also known as a 2 base number. These two numbers are also called binary digits. Each number can be converted into a binary number. For example, (14)10, if you want to write it as a binary number then it will be represented as (1110)2. 

Octal number system: As in a decimal number system digits are taken from 0 to 9, just like that in an octal number system, the numbers shall be picked from 0 to 7. This type of number system is mostly used in computer applications. In this type of number system, the number 8 is used as a base. 

Numbers written in different ways represent different values. Such as 1450 or 1540, both numbers have the same digits but have different values. The value of the numbers changes due to the place value of the digits. As in 1450, the value of 4 is 400 as it is written in thousand places, whereas in 1540 the value of 4 is 40 because it is written in the tens place. 

If you want to know more about number systems or place values then you can watch online videos or read online articles on these topics. You also search for the websites for these topics. Cuemath is one of the websites that has explained all these topics in an easy manner.