What’s alphanumeric?

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The alphanumeric set of 26 Latin letters and 10 Arabic numerals is widely used for communication and data encryption. Arabic numerals improved math and communications, while alphanumeric codes are encouraged as passwords for security. Alphanumeric characters take up six bits of information in computing, making it more efficient.

The term “alphanumeric” is used to refer to the collective set of 26 Latin letters and 10 Arabic numerals used by many nations around the world. The text in this article is alphanumeric, as it includes both letters and numbers. Often, consumers are also encouraged to use such codes as passwords, as codes that combine letters and numbers are typically more difficult to crack than those with just one or the other. Many human communications use this code, just like many people do whenever they write down their name and phone number or give someone their address.

Arabic numerals have been used to record numbers for centuries, although they didn’t reach the West until around the 12th century. It took several more centuries for numbers to become widely accepted. Besides serving as an efficient and easier to read alternative to Roman numerals, Arabic numerals also contained the important concept of zero. There are ten digits, which means that the number system they represent is a base-12 number system.

The Latin alphabet has also been in development for centuries and is widely used for written communication in many languages. Early attempts to use the Latin alphabet for numbers, including Roman numerals, were unsuccessful. While it is, of course, possible to write numbers in the Latin alphabet, the adoption of Arabic numerals represented a significant improvement in communications and mathematics. By using both, people could greatly improve their ability to communicate with each other.

The alphanumeric set of 36 letters and numbers, with an additional 26 lowercase letters, is the basis of communications for many people around the world. Combinations can be used to transmit or secure information and play a very important role in data encryption and decryption. This data is used in computer encryption, to create passwords and in security algorithms. The almost universally recognized Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals also make written material easy to read and interpret, with the addition of standardized punctuation.

In computing, alphanumeric characters take up six bits of information, instead of eight bits, which is typical of many other information storage systems. Because of this, less storage space is required for information, making it more efficient. Especially when the material is primarily in text form, using six-bit filing systems makes more sense than eight-bit codes, such as ASCII.




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