Talk:Number Base Conversion

Methinks this ought to be expanded to the algorithm that converts a natural number to any number base. The binary one just happens to be a special case. What say? --prime mover 17:01, 5 February 2012 (EST)

Oh, binary is just how I learned it, I never thought about other bases. --GFauxPas 17:33, 5 February 2012 (EST)

The reason I said right to left is because that's the order the algorithm generates the numbers, but if you feel left to right is a better presentation you can change it. --GFauxPas 03:18, 6 February 2012 (EST)

The algorithm is what it is. As it stands it seems incomplete to me. The last step of the algorithm should be "read the numbers from last to first in order." Yeah, I could rewrite the page, tidy it up and add the proof that a) it's an algorithm and b) that its output is what it says it is, but I thought since you'd started it, you might want to have "ownership", so to speak.

And I also suspect that you don't need to make a separate case for every single remainder. You just need to get the remainder and call that the output of that stage. You also may want to implement a loop structure as well, rather than an indefinite sequence of steps. Programming 101. --prime mover 04:56, 6 February 2012 (EST)

My knowledge of programming is using console commands in video games. I was hoping to let this out into the wild and see how PW tidies up an algorithm, and learn from that, I've never written an algorithm of any kind. Is there a page on PW that has an algorithm with a loop structure? If you want to wait, I can watch Khan Academy's videos on Python and googlepedia algorithms. --GFauxPas 07:37, 6 February 2012 (EST)

Strange. Programming must be a dying art. Look at Kruskal's Algorithm. I'm tempted to suggest that you might want to study the Definition:Algorithm to learn what an algorithm actually is (there are subtleties which need to be taken on board). --prime mover 07:47, 6 February 2012 (EST)

It's not strange, I just haven't taken programming yet. I'm a young'un who hasn't had a chance to learn much. Also, you have carte blanche to play with my proofs, half finished or otherwise. Also, I don't know graph theory, so my understanding of Kruskal's Algorithm will be limited. --GFauxPas 07:51, 6 February 2012 (EST)

Must be a generational thing. "In my day" every teenager was a passionate programmer. It was in the blood of all of us. We never had to wait for someone to teach us. And this was well before the day of cheap computers. Wonder what went wrong? --prime mover 08:50, 6 February 2012 (EST)

Better? Is this what you meant by a loop? --GFauxPas 11:09, 6 February 2012 (EST)

That's the stuff. The details still need work, but that's the general strategy. Good job. --prime mover 12:39, 6 February 2012 (EST)

Sorry, what does "set $n$ = thing" mean? Does it mean, "replace all instances of $n$ with $n+1$? Also, thanks for the compliment. --GFauxPas 17:29, 6 February 2012 (EST)

There is only one instance of $n$. It's a variable. --prime mover 17:37, 6 February 2012 (EST)