numbrirepresentatsioonisüsteem

A numbrirepresentatsioonisüsteem, or number representation system, is a method for writing down numbers. It's essentially a set of rules and symbols that allow us to express quantities in a standardized way. The most common system we use today is the decimal system, also known as the base-10 system. This system uses ten distinct digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

The power of these systems lies in their positional nature. In the decimal system, the position of a digit determines its value. For example, in the number 234, the '4' represents four ones, the '3' represents three tens, and the '2' represents two hundreds. Each position is a power of the base (in this case, 10). So, 234 can be expressed as (2 * 10^2) + (3 * 10^1) + (4 * 10^0).

Other number representation systems exist, each with a different base. The binary system, or base-2, uses only two digits: 0 and 1. This is fundamental to computer science, as electronic circuits can easily represent these two states. The hexadecimal system, or base-16, uses digits 0-9 and letters A-F to represent numbers, often used in computing for its conciseness in representing binary data. The choice of representation system depends on the application and the underlying technology.