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Numeral System


A numeral system is a scheme for representing numbers by strings of symbols called digits. In a positional system of integer base b>=2, the numeral a_ka_(k-1)...a_0 represents

 sum_(j=0)^ka_jb^j,

where 0<=a_j<b. The familiar decimal system uses decimal digits with b=10, while binary uses binary digits with b=2. Nonpositional systems, such as Roman numerals, assign values by other rules.


See also

Arabic Numeral, Base, Binary, Binary Digit, Binary Expansion, Decimal, Decimal Digit, Decimal Expansion, Digit, Numeral, Polygonal Radix Representation, Roman Numerals

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References

Knuth, D. E. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2: Seminumerical Algorithms, 3rd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1998.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Numeral System." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/NumeralSystem.html

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