Base conversion mappings

Abstract

Most computers utilize either binary, octal or hexadecimal representation for internal storage of numbers, whereas decimal format is desired for most input, output and for the representation of constants in a user language such as FORTRAN or ALGOL. The conversion of a normalized number in one base to a normalized number in another base is beset with difficulties because of the incompatibility of exact representations of a number when only a limited number of digits are available in each base.