Gee, Ginger must surely hate me now for turning this into a math class :)
Lemme see if I can clear things up…
That part of the paragraph actually refers (as ottod suggested) to the base of the numeral system used in question (not the power), the base can usually be interpreted as how many numbers (digits) are available in a particular numeral system (the decimal system (base 10) for example, which we normally use, has ten digits (numbers 0 through 9), while a base 13 numeral system would have thirteen valid digits (numbers 0-12, taking numbers such as 10, 11 and 12 as a single “digit”, or replacing them with letters a, b and c respectively), so number 13 in base 10 would actually be number ‘10’ (or a) in base 13.
One way in which you can calculate the equivalent to any integer in another numeral system without much garment removal is as follows:
Given a number 9x6 = 54 in base 10, which we want to convert to base 13, we perform integer division, with our given number (54) as the dividend and the base we want to convert it to (13) as the divisor.
54/13 = 4
Since it is integer division, we get a remainder of 2, which will be the first number (from right to left) of our final number.
Then we proceed to divide the quotient of our previous operation (4) by the base:
4/13 = 0
Again, since it’s integer division, we get a remainder of 4, our second number.
Since our quotient is now zero, all further divisions will yield zero, so there’s no need to continue dividing.
Arranging the two numbers we got from right to left:
42
Therefore 54 base10 equals 42 base13
I really hope that made any sort of sense :)
Also, when I posted “42?” I was not referring to your age (so very sorry if I offended you, it was not my intention), I was suggesting it as an answer to Ginger’s initial question (given it’s status as “the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything”)
Gee, Ginger must surely hate me now for turning this into a math class :)
Lemme see if I can clear things up…
That part of the paragraph actually refers (as ottod suggested) to the base of the numeral system used in question (not the power), the base can usually be interpreted as how many numbers (digits) are available in a particular numeral system (the decimal system (base 10) for example, which we normally use, has ten digits (numbers 0 through 9), while a base 13 numeral system would have thirteen valid digits (numbers 0-12, taking numbers such as 10, 11 and 12 as a single “digit”, or replacing them with letters a, b and c respectively), so number 13 in base 10 would actually be number ‘10’ (or a) in base 13.
One way in which you can calculate the equivalent to any integer in another numeral system without much garment removal is as follows:
Given a number 9x6 = 54 in base 10, which we want to convert to base 13, we perform integer division, with our given number (54) as the dividend and the base we want to convert it to (13) as the divisor.
54/13 = 4 Since it is integer division, we get a remainder of 2, which will be the first number (from right to left) of our final number. Then we proceed to divide the quotient of our previous operation (4) by the base: 4/13 = 0 Again, since it’s integer division, we get a remainder of 4, our second number. Since our quotient is now zero, all further divisions will yield zero, so there’s no need to continue dividing.
Arranging the two numbers we got from right to left:
42
Therefore 54 base10 equals 42 base13
I really hope that made any sort of sense :)
Also, when I posted “42?” I was not referring to your age (so very sorry if I offended you, it was not my intention), I was suggesting it as an answer to Ginger’s initial question (given it’s status as “the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything”)
I’ll shut up now, you may return to the humor :)