Oktális

Oktális refers to the octal numeral system, which is a base-8 counting system. Unlike the decimal system (base-10) that uses ten digits (0-9), the octal system uses only eight digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Each digit's place value in the octal system represents a power of 8. For example, the octal number 123 can be interpreted in decimal as (1 * 8^2) + (2 * 8^1) + (3 * 8^0), which equals 64 + 16 + 3, or 75 in decimal.

The octal system was historically used in computing, particularly in early mainframe computers and in certain contexts involving punch cards and paper tape. Its advantage lay in its direct relationship with the binary (base-2) system. Since 8 is 2 to the power of 3 (8 = 2^3), each octal digit can be represented by exactly three binary digits (bits). For instance, the octal digit 3 is 011 in binary, and the octal digit 7 is 111 in binary. This made octal a convenient shorthand for representing binary data, as it required fewer digits than binary itself. For example, the binary number 11011011 could be grouped into sets of three from the right: 110 110 110, which translates to the octal number 666.

While hexadecimal (base-16) has largely replaced octal in modern computing for representing binary data due to its even more compact representation (since 16 = 2^4, meaning each hex digit represents four bits), octal still finds occasional use in certain programming languages and specific hardware contexts. Its historical significance in the development of computing remains noteworthy.