Hexadecimal to Decimal: method
Hexadecimal uses base 16, so each digit represents a power of 16. The digits 0–9 keep their usual values, and A–F mean 10–15.
Step-by-step
- Write the place values from right to left: (16^0, 16^1, 16^2,\dots)
- Convert each digit to its decimal value.
- Multiply each digit by its place value.
- Add all the results.
For example, (3A_{16}) means:
- (3 \times 16^1 = 48)
- (A = 10), so (10 \times 16^0 = 10)
- Total: (48 + 10 = 58)
Good check
Make sure the final decimal number is reasonable: a two-digit hexadecimal number should usually give a decimal number less than 256. You can also recompute by splitting the number into expanded form to verify your sum.
Common tips
- Don’t treat A, B, C, D, E, F as letters; they are numbers.
- Keep track of powers of 16 carefully.
- Simplify the final answer to a single decimal number.