0xCA7

0xCA7 is a hexadecimal representation, a common way to denote numbers in computer science and programming. In this format, the prefix "0x" indicates that the following digits are in base 16. The digits themselves, C, A, and 7, correspond to specific decimal values. In hexadecimal, the digits 0-9 represent their usual decimal values, while A through F represent values 10 through 15. Therefore, C in 0xCA7 is equivalent to 12 in decimal, A is equivalent to 10, and 7 remains 7.

To convert 0xCA7 to its decimal equivalent, we multiply each digit by the corresponding power of 16 and sum the results. Starting from the rightmost digit with 16 to the power of 0, we have: (7 * 16^0) + (A * 16^1) + (C * 16^2). Substituting the decimal values for A and C, this becomes: (7 * 1) + (10 * 16) + (12 * 256). Calculating these products gives us 7 + 160 + 3072. Summing these values results in a decimal value of 3239.

0xCA7 can appear in various contexts within computing. It might represent a memory address, a value in a data structure, an error code, or a constant within software. The specific meaning would entirely depend on the program or system where it is encountered. The use of hexadecimal is favored in computing because it provides a more human-readable representation of binary data compared to long strings of 0s and 1s, and each hexadecimal digit corresponds directly to exactly four binary digits.