Mathematical

concepts and
their
applications Jesstern Rays
http://jesstern.com
Introduction
The aim of this report is to identify the applications of
some of the Mathematical concepts discussed in
Computing Mathematics.

Number systems
We explore numerous number systems from different
parts of the world and then focus our attention on
binary and hexadecimal codes.

We explain how binary is used in every day life, how a

transistor works and what happens if binary takes over
the world.

Then we look at an ASCII table and introduce

hexadecimals. We also look at how colour codes can be
represented in hexadecimal.
There are various number systems across the world. 

万
Binary
There are as many ways to represent numbers as there are languages in the world. The
most commonly used number system since the late 15th century is the one we use today
derived from the Indian and Arabian number systems. The most important characteristic
of the modern numeral system is that there are only 10 symbols to represent all numbers.

1234567890
Computers, despite their complex hardware, operate on a very rudimentary level, that is,
in only two states - 'ON' or 'OFF'. The 10 symbol (or base-10) number system we use is far
too complicated for computers to process, but can we represent all numbers with just two
states?

0111000100
Binary numbers are numbers represented only by two states - '1' or '0'. For computers to
be useful we will not only need to represent all real numbers in binary, but also text,
images, sound and video. It turns out that binary can indeed do all that.
In a digital world, there are
only two states.

or
00000000

8 bits
represents 28 = 256 characters
Examples of uses of binary in everyday life
Before we explore how binary numbers are used
in computers, let's look at how they are used to
represent everyday things.

The 8 trigrams in the I Ching are represented by

binary symbols. If we take the solid line as '1' and
the broken line as '0', we can read the symbols as
000 for Earth, 100 for Mountain, 010 for Water,
and so on and so forth.

000 100 010 110

Can you think of other
areas where binary is
used?

001 101 011 111

Here is another example. Binary can be
used to pass messages from one party to
another from great distances. Before the
invention of telecommunications, Morse
code was (and is still) used to
communicate between vessels using on-
off tones, lights, or clicks.

Can you decipher this Morse coded message?

--   .-   -   ....   ...       .-.   ---   -.-.   -.-   ...
If binary took over the world

There's even a blog dedicated to all things binary!

http://bitsofbinary.blogspot.com/
In 1666, when Leibniz first discovered binary
through observations in the I Ching, he went on to further
develop it without knowing what it could be used for. We've
come a long way since then. With the invention of
transistors, binary can be used as fundamental building
blocks in computer technology.

Transistors are used as switches in computers to switch

between 'ON' and 'OFF' states. The three pins of a transistor
are like a T-junction. 

When 5V of current is
passed through the
Base, the Collector
gate will open (i.e.
'ON').

Illustration by © Jesstern Rays 

Hexadecimal
In order to represent alphabets and other Base-10 Base-16
keyboard characters in binary we would 1 1
have to add more bits. However, early 2 2
computers were limited to 8 bits so they 3 3
created hexadecimal code, a base-16 4 4
number system, to represent more 5 5
characters. Each hexadecimal digit 6 6
represents 4 bits (or 1 nibble). 7 7
8 8
9 9
10 A
11 B
12 C
13 D
14 E
15 F
The ASCII Table
You may have noticed
some website URLs have
'%20' to represent a 'space'
character. Looking at the
ASCII chart we see that
'space' is indeed
represented as '20' in
hexadecimal code.
Colour codes in hexadecimals
Colour codes in hexadecimals
Red Green Blue
Decimals 36 104 160
Hexadecimals 24 68 A0

Colour code: 2468A0

The first two digits represents the colour red. Its range being from 0 to 255 in
decimal or 00 to FF in hexadecimals. The colour red will be represented as FF0000 in
hexadecimal code. Similarly, green is 00FF00 and blue is 0000FF.

256 = 1,777,216 3
Number of colours that can be represented by this system
?
Riddle
Some real numbers are
completely irrational while
others are absolutely
rational. Integers
are naturally rational and
natural numbers are
positive integers.
 Real numbers

Rational
numbers

Integers Irrational
numbers

Natural
numbers

Here we use sets to represent all real numbers graphically. It gives

us a visual interpretation of the their respective definitions and
their relation to one another. It’s also an easier way to remember
them. Note that natural numbers are the same as positive integers.
 Source
1. Howard Anton, et al.
         Applied Finite Mathematics, Fifth Edition, 1992
         Chapters 3 and 4, Linear Programming

2. Steven Strogatz
         Group Think, New York Times Opinionator
         http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/group-think/ 

3. Cover page image Creative Commons license by stock.xchng

         http://www.sxc.hu/

4. On numbers by Internet Looks

         http://internetlooks.com/onnumbers.html

5. Morse code by Wikipedia

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

6. How does a transistor work? by Stephen Portz

         http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae430.cfm

7. Color code by Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors
 Jesstern Rays
@jessternrays
jessternrays@gmail.com
http://jesstern.com