octal

mathematics Base 8. A number representation using the

digits 0-7 only, with the right-most digit counting ones, the

next counting multiples of 8, then 8^2 = 64, etc. For

example, octal 177 is digital 127:

digit weight value

1 8^2 = 64 1* 64 = 64

7 8^1 = 8 7* 8 = 56

7 8^0 = 1 7* 1 = 7

---

127

Octal system used to be widespread back when many computers

used 6-bit bytes, as a 6-bit byte can be conveniently

written as a two-digit octal number. Since nowadays a byte is

almost always 8-bit long the octal system lost most of its

appeal to the hexadecimal system.

For a brief discussion on the word `octal' see hexadecimal.

(1997-06-16)