Base (mathematics)
Different bases are often used in computers. Binary (base 2) is used because at the most simple level, computers can only deal with 0s and 1s. Hexadecimal (base 16) is used because of how computers group binary digits together. Every four binary digits turn into one hexadecimal digit when changing between them. Because there are more than 10 digits in hexadecimal, the six digits after 9 are shown as A, B, C, D, E, and F.