Converting binary into hexadecimal is very simple. All we need is to remember that hexadecimal is a base 16 number.  This means that each number column can contain 16 characters.  Hexadecimal goes from 0 to F:

Decimal Number	Binary Number	Hexadecimal Number
0	0000	0
1	0001	1
2	0010	2
3	0011	3
4	0100	4
5	0101	5
6	0110	6
7	0111	7
8	1000	8
9	1001	9
10	1010	A
11	1011	B
12	1100	C
13	1101	D
14	1110	E
15	1111	F

EG

Using the table – 0111 in binary is 7 in hexadecimal.

Using the table – 1010 in binary is A in hexadecimal.

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Without the table for reference we can also convert the binary into decimal then convert into hexadecimal

EG

Put the binary number into a table with the numbers 8, 4, 2, 1 above them.

8	4	2	1
1	0	1	1

Any time there is a 1 in the second row we add the number above it to a running tally.

There is a 1 under 8, 2 and 1 therefore 8+2+1 = 11

11 in decimal = B in hexadecimal

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Binary to 2 Digit Hexadecimal Conversion

What happens when we need to convert binary into 2 digit hexadecimal?  Again we need to remember that hexadecimal is a base 16 number and each number column can go from 0-9 and A-F. 

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Example 1

Convert Binary number 10100010 into Binary

Split the binary number into a 2 column table in nibbles (4 bits).

1010	0010

Using the table above and our knowledge of binary, we can now convert the individual binary nibbles into hexadecimal. 

1010	0010
1010 = A	0010 = 2

We now simply combine these 2 hexadecimal digits:

1010 0010 = A2 in hexadecimal

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Example 2

Convert binary number 00101000 into hexadecimal

0010	1000
0010 = 2	1000 = 8

0010 1000 = 28 in hexadecimal

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Binary to 4 digit Hexadecimal conversion

For the infrastructure technician course you will be expected to convert binary into 4 digits of hexadecimal. How do we convert binary into 4 digit hexadecimal?  Again we need to remember that hexadecimal is a base 16 number and each number column can go from 0-9 and A-F. 

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Example 3

Convert binary number 1100001001001011 into hexadecimal.

Split the binary number into a 4 column table with 4 bits (a nibble) in each column.

1100	0010	0100	1011

Using the table above and our knowledge of hexadecimal, we can convert the individual binary nibbles in each column into hexadecimal.

1100	0010	0100	1011
1100 = A	0010 = 2	0100 = 4	1011 = B

Now simply combine the hexadecimal values in each column and this is the answer.

1100001001001011 = A24B in hexadecimal

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Time to test yourself

Now that you know how to convert binary into hexadecimal it’s time to test yourself.