macOS Help converting word to hex

I thought hexadecimal was strictly numbers.

%6d%30%33%79%38%32

...according to this ascii to hex converter...

EricNau said:

I thought hexadecimal was strictly numbers.

Click to expand...

ASCII is a system of representing everyday letters as numbers. And numbers can be represented in any base, like base 2, 10, or 16 (hexadecimal).

Basically, at its core, a computer only understands bits, which can be on and off. Building on that, we can group sets of bits together, and interpret those as numbers. Example, the bits on the left can be be interpreted as numbers which I will represent in base 10 on the right:

0000 : 0
0001 : 1
0010 : 2
0011 : 3
0100 : 4
0101 : 5
0110 : 6
0111 : 7
1000 : 8
1001 : 9
1010 : 10
1011 : 11
1100 : 12
1101 : 13
1110 : 14
1111 : 15

And those same numbers that were represented in base 10 above can be represented in base 16 below:

0000 : 0
0001 : 1
0010 : 2
0011 : 3
0100 : 4
0101 : 5
0110 : 6
0111 : 7
1000 : 8
1001 : 9
1010 : A
1011 : B
1100 : C
1101 : D
1110 : E
1111 : F

From this we can see that what is real is the actual bit storage. By convention we can imagine is that those bits mean numbers. (Trivial when we interpret the bits as numbers in base 2). And we can represent those number ideas in whatever mathematical base is appropriate. 1100 (base 2) is the same number as 12 (base 10) is the same number as C (base 16).

Computers don't know what letters are. There is no comprehension in a computer at all of what the letter Z is. But, if we setup a standard of representing each letter by a number, than we can store that number as bits. Then we can use that number to also represent everything about this Z concept. We can make pictures that look like Zs, or we can make drawing commands with a high dash, a low dash, and a diagonal slash, that altogether make a Z, and again use that number to reference these drawing commands.

The most popular system of correlating numbers to letters is the ASCII system. But it handles more than just letters, it handles something we call characters. Letters are just A-Z and a-z, but there are also digits 0-9 and punctuation {}()/\,.? and whitespace like regular spaces and tabs etc. All of those things together are called characters. Plus there's some characters that mean nothing to a person with a pen and paper, but do mean something to a computer, like ACK which means ACKnowledged.

Ok, so the digits 0-9 are represented, IN ASCII, by the numbers 48-57 (base 10), and A-Z by 65-90 (base 10). ASCII in base 10.

But, any number can be in any base, so we could have that in hexadecimal, or base 16, too. Digits 0-9 are numbers 30-39 (base 16), A-Z are numbers 41-5A (base 16), etc... ASCII in base 16.

So, if I put the letter A on the screen, then to a human I can mean several things. It could be the letter A. Or it could be the number 10 (base 10), but represented in base 16 as A. Irregardless, to the computer, I've typed in the ASCII character A, which is stored as the number 65 (base 10) or 41 (base 16, or 01000001 (base 2). That means that it's stored as bits, on and off, like this: 01000001.

That's how letters can be in hexadecimal.

EricNau said:

I thought hexadecimal was strictly numbers.

Click to expand...

It is... the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F.

So, in hexidecimal:
6 + 6 = C
6 + 6 + 6 = 12
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 18
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 1E
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 2A
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 30
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 36
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 3C