Hexadecimal Conversion

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Today we’re going to talk about hexadecimal conversion a topic that might make you feel like you’ve been transported back in time to the days of floppy disks and dial-up internet (you know, when life was simpler). But don’t let it rattle you, because in this article, I’m gonna break it down for you in simple terms.

To kick things off: what is hexadecimal conversion? Well, let me put it this way have you ever seen a number that looks like this: 0xFFFFF? That’s called a hexadecimal number (or “hex” for short). It might look weird at first glance, but trust me, it’s not as scary as it seems.

So how do we convert decimal numbers to hex and vice versa? Let’s start with the basics: converting decimal to hex. Here’s a simple example using Python:

# This script converts a decimal number to a hexadecimal number using the basic conversion method.

decimal = 255 # our decimal number
hex_digits = "0123456789ABCDEF" # this is our list of hexadecimal digits (lowercase and uppercase)
result = "" # we'll store the result here

# Loop through the decimal number until it becomes 0
while decimal > 0:
    remainder = decimal % 16 # get the last digit using modulo operator
    index = hex_digits.index(str(remainder)) # find the index of that digit in our list
    result = str(index) + result # add it to our result string (least significant digit first)
    decimal //= 16 # remove the last digit from decimal using integer division

# Print the result
print(result)

# Output: FF

# Explanation:
# Line 3: The decimal number we want to convert to hexadecimal
# Line 4: A list of hexadecimal digits, used to find the corresponding digit for each remainder
# Line 5: A string variable to store the result
# Line 7: A while loop that will continue until the decimal number becomes 0
# Line 8: Using the modulo operator to get the remainder when dividing the decimal number by 16
# Line 9: Finding the index of the remainder in the hexadecimal digits list
# Line 10: Adding the corresponding digit to the beginning of the result string
# Line 11: Removing the last digit from the decimal number using integer division
# Line 14: Printing the final result, which is the hexadecimal representation of the decimal number.

Wow, that’s a lot of code for something so simple! But let me break it down for you. First we define `decimal`, which is our input number (in this case, 255). Then we create a string called `hex_digits` with all the possible hexadecimal digits in lowercase and uppercase. Next, we initialize an empty string called `result`.

The meat of the conversion happens inside the while loop: we get the last digit using modulo operator (`remainder = decimal % 16`) and find its index in our list of hexadecimal digits (`index = hex_digits.index(str(remainder))`). Then, we add that digit to `result`, starting from least significant digit first (`result = str(index) + result`), and remove the last digit from decimal using integer division (`decimal //= 16`).

And voila! We’ve converted our decimal number to hexadecimal. But what if we want to convert a hex number back to decimal? Well, that’s even easier:

# Convert hexadecimal to decimal

# Define input hex string
hex_string = "FF"

# Initialize result variable
result = 0

# Set initial power to the length of the hex string minus 1
power = len(hex_string) - 1

# Loop through each digit in the hex string
for digit in hex_string:
    # Check if the digit is a number
    if digit.isdigit():
        # Convert the digit to an integer and multiply it by 16 raised to the current power
        result += int(digit) * (16 ** power)
    # If the digit is a letter between A and F
    elif digit >= "A" and digit <= "F":
        # Convert the digit to an integer using base 16 and multiply it by 16 raised to the current power
        result += int(digit, 16) * (16 ** power)
    # Move to the next lower power of 16
    power -= 1

# Print the result
print(result)

# Output: 255

# Explanation:
# The script takes a hexadecimal string as input and converts it to decimal.
# The result variable is initialized to 0 to store the converted decimal number.
# The power variable is set to the length of the hex string minus 1, as the highest power of 16 is the length of the string minus 1.
# The loop iterates through each digit in the hex string.
# If the digit is a number, it is converted to an integer and multiplied by 16 raised to the current power, then added to the result.
# If the digit is a letter between A and F, it is converted to an integer using base 16 and multiplied by 16 raised to the current power, then added to the result.
# After each iteration, the power is decreased by 1 to move to the next lower power of 16.
# Finally, the result is printed, which is the converted decimal number.

This code is pretty similar to the previous one we initialize `result` to zero and set `power` to the highest power of 16. Then, for each digit in our hex string (starting from right to left), we check if it’s a number or a letter. If it’s a number, we add its value multiplied by the current power of 16 to `result`. If it’s a letter, we convert it to an integer using base-16 conversion and do the same thing (`int(digit, 16) * (16 ** power)`). Finally, we move on to the next lower power of 16.

And that’s it! You now know how to convert decimal numbers to hexadecimal and vice versa using Python. But remember don’t let those fancy terms scare you off. Hex conversion is just a matter of breaking down your number into smaller parts, finding the right digits for each part, and putting them back together again. It might take some practice, but trust me, it’s worth it in the end!

As for other conversions that we can do with Python, here are a few examples:
– [Ipv4 Conversion](conversions/ipv4_conversion.py)
– [Length Conversion](conversions/length_conversion.py)
– [Molecular Chemistry](conversions/molecular_chemistry.py)
– [Octal To Binary](conversions/octal_to_binary.py)
– [Octal To Decimal](conversions/octal_to_decimal.py)
– [Octal To Hexadecimal](conversions/octal_to_hexadecimal.py)

These are just a few examples, but there are many more conversions that we can do with Python and the best part is that they’re all pretty simple once you break them down into smaller parts!

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