Although not as widely used in programming as other number systems like hexadecimal, the base-8 octal number system still has uses for computer applications. Instead of using 0-9, octal uses 0-7 as its digits. Like the base-16 hexadecimal, octal has roots in the base-2 binary system, which uses only 0 and 1 to count. Although binary is the primary number system used in computer processing, its long chain of numbers can be cumbersome to use. This makes number conversions necessary. Converting a binary number to octal is easy, although not all calculators support the function.
Instructions
-
-
1
Press the "BIN" button to enable binary mode. On some calculators, this function may be a second or third function.
-
2
Enter the binary number you want to convert, such as "10000000," which is binary for 128.
-
-
3
Press the "OCT" button to convert the number to octal. For example, "10000000" converted to octal is "200."