Kaheksandsüsteem

Kaheksandsüsteem, also known as octal, is a numeral system with a base of eight. This means it uses only eight distinct symbols to represent numbers, typically the digits 0 through 7. It is a positional numeral system, where each digit's value is determined by its position within the number, multiplied by a power of eight. For instance, the octal number 123 represents (1 * 8^2) + (2 * 8^1) + (3 * 8^0), which equals 64 + 16 + 3, or 83 in the decimal system.

Historically, the octal system was used in some computing contexts, particularly in older mainframes and minicomputers. This was partly because the binary representation of numbers often resulted in groups of three bits, which conveniently mapped to a single octal digit. For example, the binary number 101110 is equivalent to the octal number 56, as 101 is 5 and 110 is 6. While less common in modern computing, which primarily uses hexadecimal (base-16), octal still appears in some specialized applications and educational contexts. Its simplicity and direct relationship to binary make it a useful concept for understanding number systems.