Decimal

Decimal, or less commonly, denary, usually refers to the base 10 numeral system.

Decimal notation

Decimal notation is the writing of numbers in the base 10 numeral system, which uses various symbols for ten distinct quantities (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, called digits) to represent numbers. These digits are frequently used with a decimal point which indicates the start of a fractional part, and with one of the sign symbols + (plus) or − (minus) to indicate sign.

Related Topics:
Number - Numeral system - Digits - Decimal point

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The decimal system is a positional numeral system; it has positions for units, tens, hundreds, etc. The position of each digit conveys what multiplier is to be used with that digit.

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Decimal is the most common numeral system used around the world. This is because humans have ten fingers; for example, in English, digit is also the anatomical term referring to fingers and toes. However, some cultures do or did historically use other numeral systems, including the Tzotzil, who use a base 20 system (using all 20 fingers and toes), some Nigerians who use several base 12 systems, the Babylonians, who used base 60, and the Yuki, who reportedly used base 8.

Related Topics:
Digit - Tzotzil - Base 20 - Nigeria - Base 12 - Babylonia - Base 60 - Yuki - Base 8

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The symbols for the digits in common use around the globe today are called Arabic numerals by Europeans and Indian numerals by Arabs, the two groups' terms both referring to the culture from which they learned the system. However, the symbols used in different areas are not identical; for instance, Western Arabic numerals (from which the European numerals are derived) differ from the forms used by other Arab cultures.

Related Topics:
Globe - Arabic numerals - Indian numerals

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Computers commonly use a different system, binary, internally. For external use by computer specialists, this binary representation is sometimes presented in the related octal or hexadecimal systems.

Related Topics:
Computer - Binary - Octal - Hexadecimal

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For most purposes however, binary values are converted by the computer to the equivalent decimal values for presentation to humans.

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Nevertheless, sometimes computers do use internal representations which are equivalent to decimal for doing arithmetic. Frequently this arithmetic is done on data in the form of binary-coded decimal, but there are other decimal representations in use (see IEEE 754r). Decimal arithmetic is used in computers so that fractional results can be computed exactly, which is not possible using a binary fractional representation.

Related Topics:
Binary-coded decimal - IEEE 754r

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This is often important for financial and other calculations http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decifaq.html.

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