[KLUG Members] Windows calculator v GNOME calculator

[Andrew Thompson]

On Wed, 2007-08-08 at 18:49 +0000, Mike Williams wrote:
> There's no reason in theory why hex doesn't work to the left of the
> decimal point, but I can see why it wasn't worth the effort to code
> for a basic calculator.  Hex exists to represent bits, which don't
> really have a decimal point.
> 
> If a hex number had stuff to the right of the decimal point it would
> be a 1/16ths place, 1/256ths place, and etc.

This is correct. If you need to get a hexadecimal fraction from a
calculator that supports hexadecimal and fractions, but not both, you
can do this: Take your decimal fraction and multiply it by 16 to the
power of however many digits you need (or just multiply your number by
16 n times). Convert that to hexadecimal, and the rightmost n digits are
your fractional portion.

-- 
Andrew Thompson <tempes at ameritech.net>
The Imagerie