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What is Decimal Number System?

Long ago, humans created a number system that has precisely ten digits. This number system is called the Decimal Number System, and the digits in this number system are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Gopi Gorantala
Gopi Gorantala
1 min read

Table of Contents

The decimal number system is the standard for denoting integer and non-integer numbers.

Introduction

Long ago, humans created a number system that has precisely ten digits.

This number system is called the Decimal Number System, and the digits in this number system are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

If a number system has n digits, we say that the base of the number system is n. So, the decimal number system can also be called a base-10 number system.

Sketch with place values.

Let’s look at place values for decimals in the below picture.

Place Value for Decimals
Place Value for Decimals

We write the number in one row and multiple columns. The rightmost column corresponding to the rightmost digit is called the one’s place. The second right column is called the tens place, and we increase in multiples of tens, e.g., hundreds place, thousands place, and so on.

Suppose we have to represent this in powers of 10. In that case, the rightmost place (or the least significant digit) corresponds to 100 and continues to 101 and so on towards the left side.

Example

Let’s write the number 1256 in the decimal number system.

int n = 1256;

Repeatedly do the modulo operation until n becomes 0 using:

%” and “division” operations.

Illustration

n(value) n n/10 (Quotient) n%10 (Remainder)
n is 1256 1256 125 6
n/10 becomes 125 125 12 5
n/10 becomes 12 12 1 2
n/10 becomes 1 1 0 1

Let's visualize this below:

Bit ManipulationData Structures and Algorithms

Gopi Gorantala Twitter

Gopi is an engineering leader with 12+ of experience in full-stack development—a specialist in Java technology stack. He worked for multiple startups, the European govt, and FAANG in India and Europe.

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