0xUmpteen

[jack]

In the "things that are easier to write than say" hexadecimal numbers step up to the plate. What is the best way of saying "0x32"?

* "Hex three two" or "Oh ex three two" or "three two hex" or "three two". Unambiguous, good enough for most situations, but slightly clunky and unsatisfying.
* "Hex thirty-two" or "thirty-two hex" eta: or "oh ex thirty-two" quicker, easy to work out, but prone to confusion[1].
* Not used by 32, but with "able, baker, charlie, dog, easy, fox" instead of "ay, bee, cee, dee, eff"
* Some completely new system eg, trisuffix-duo.
* Something corresponding to our current decimal system, where "ty" is I believe distantly related to "ten", using 'hex' or 'sex' as abbreviations for terms for sixteen, eg:

Thirhyn-two
Thirsy-two

It may be obvious that I use the first, sometimes slip into second, and would like to use the last. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[1] Objection: Incorrect, because thirty two refers to the number represented in decimal by "32", not that representation which in different bases means different numbers.
Rebuttal: Says who? No-one ever uses the terms other than in decimal, so people's normal use could equally well be either.

Comments

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

I tend to say either "oh ex thirty two" or "thirty-two hex".

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I forgot the specify "oh ex thirty two". I often say "thirty two" in some form, but feel guilty because most people object. I think the "10 sorts of people" joke while better written works fine saying "ten" because most people know what you mean, and the wrongness only adds to the funny.

[mooism.livejournal.com]

I always say “oh ex thirty-two”.

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

Another vote for "oh ex thirty two". I also say "oh ex bee-ty eff" for 0xBF. I think the oh ex is sufficient to indicate that the "-ty" means sixteens not tens.

[aldabra]

I'd say "ox thirty-two" if I had to, which I don't. I like beety-eff, too.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

LOL. Yes.

[sillytrippy.livejournal.com]

I was talking to people over the weekend about this, but in the context of wanting to learn my hex times tables as well as I know my dec times tables (which sadly isn't particularly well, but that should make it easier...). The problem is, my dec times tables were learned by rote "nine ones are nine, nine twos are eighteen...", and using this method for hex requires a way of saying things like 0xE1.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah, that is cool.I *rarely* multipy non-powers-of-two in hex, but occasionally it comes up.

[simont]

I seem to be the only person so far who even considers saying "zero ex" for the 0x prefix! I think "oh ex" sounds a bit too ambiguous (not enough like a number, IYSWIM) to make me comfortable with using it. I say "oh" for zero once it's already clear that I'm in the middle of reading out a great big long string of digits, but not before.

I agree with your Rebuttal, and with everyone else who says it's fine to say "thirty-two" once you've made it clear that it's hex. I was actually taught at school to avoid the "-ty" when operating in non-decimal bases, but found myself completely unable to stick to the principle in practice because my brain is just so hardwired to hear "thirty-two" when it sees 32. I don't ever have trouble understanding it in return; as long as I know they're talking in hex, I instinctively type "32" when I hear "thirty-two" and all is groovy. I might even go as far as "zero ex one thousand" for 0x1000, but for a number with actual content such as 0x12A3 I'd probably say "zero ex one two ay three" or perhaps "zero ex twelve ay three". I don't do geekette8's thing of putting the "-ty" suffix on the end of letter-digits; 0xBF is zero ex bee eff, not zero ex beety eff.

Nearly a year ago a guy at work was giving me instructions for operating some ghastly piece of dodgy debugging hardware, and told me "you have to write the byte five to address one bazillion and cee", which I effortlessly and correctly translated as 0x1000000C on the grounds that I couldn't imagine him using the word "bazillion" for anything less than the largest number of zeroes which could possibly fit in the (32-bit) address field in question. I was left in awe of his communication skills.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I don't like the idea of inventing new words, because you'd have to have different ones for each base!

I usually read all numbers alloud as if they were decimal, don't use the 0x prefix and will, if pressed, reveal what base I was counting in.

The only real problem I have is that aty and eighty sound very similar.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I was hoping for constructing words in some systematicy manner, so eg.

40<sub>2 Fourby
408 Fouroey
4010 Fourty
4016 Foursy
E026 Fourbetty

It's hard to come up with one, as you say they all sound the same, but if you could people could say "I don't know what that means, but it sounds like [correct guess]" :)</sub>