Group size for hex conversion – UGC NET Question

Each hexadecimal digit represents 16 distinct values, which equals 2^4. Therefore, four binary bits map exactly to one hex digit. When converting binary to hexadecimal, we group the binary digits into sets of four starting from the right so that each group converts cleanly to a single hex digit.

Option A:
Option A is correct because grouping in fours aligns with the 2^4 relationship between binary and hexadecimal. This method ensures a direct and lossless mapping.

Option B:
Option B, grouping by 2, would only cover 2^2 = 4 values per group, which does not match the 16 possibilities for a hex digit. It would require extra steps to combine groups.

Option C:
Option C, grouping by 3, corresponds to octal conversion where each group of three bits represents one octal digit. It is not suitable for hexadecimal.

Option D:
Option D, grouping by 8, gives 2^8 = 256 values per group, which is much larger than needed for a single hex digit and does not provide a clean one-to-one mapping.