The Decimal numeral system, also known as base-10, is the standard system for representing integer and non-integer numbers for humans. It is called base-10 because it uses ten unique digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The position of a digit in a number determines its value, which is based on powers of 10. For example, the number 345 represents (3×102)+(4×101)+(5×100). While humans work naturally in decimal, computers and digital electronics operate fundamentally in binary (base-2), using only the digits 0 and 1.
Therefore, when a user interacts with a programmable power supply or its control software, a conversion process is always happening in the background. When you type the command VOLT 12.5 into a control program, the decimal number 12.5 is converted into a binary format (often a floating-point representation) that the computer can process. The control program then sends this command to the power supply.
The power supply's internal microcontroller receives the command, converts the binary representation of 12.5 into a setting for its digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and produces the corresponding analog voltage. Conversely, when the power supply measures a voltage, its analog-to-digital converter (ADC) produces a binary value, which is then converted back to a decimal number to be displayed to the user. Understanding the relationship between decimal, binary, and hexadecimal is fundamental in programming for digital systems.
See the graph for conversion to binary and decimal numbers.
| Binary numbers | Hexadecimal | Decimal |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | 3 | 3 |
| 100 | 4 | 4 |
| 101 | 5 | 5 |
| 110 | 6 | 6 |
| 111 | 7 | 7 |
| 1000 | 8 | 8 |
| 1001 | 9 | 9 |
| 1010 | A | 10 |
| 1011 | B | 11 |
| 1100 | C | 12 |
| 1101 | D | 13 |
| 1110 | E | 14 |
| 1111 | F | 15 |