Refers to the base-8 number system, which uses just eight unique
symbols (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7). Programs often display
data in octal format because it is relatively easy for humans to
read and can easily be translated into binary format, which is
the most important format for computers. By contrast, decimal
format is the easiest format for humans to read because it is
the one we use in everyday life, but translating between decimal
and binary formats is relatively difficult. In octal format,
each digit represents three binary digits, as shown: With this
table it is easy to translate between octal and binary. For
example, the octal number 3456 is 011 100 101 110 in binary.