Hexadecimal in digital design — “Hex is commonly used as a shorthand to represent strings of bits.” Judge the statement.

Introduction / Context:
Hexadecimal (base 16) maps neatly to binary because 16 = 2^4; each hex digit corresponds to exactly four bits. Designers and programmers rely on hex to write and read binary values in a compact, human-friendly form, especially for registers, bitmasks, addresses, and machine code bytes.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Binary is verbose in text; hex compresses 4 bits into one symbol (0–9, A–F).
• Use cases include memory dumps, microcontroller registers, and protocols.
• Radix prefixes like 0x or h'...' identify hex literals in many contexts.

Concept / Approach:
Since each nibble (4 bits) is one hex digit, converting between binary and hex is grouping bits by fours. This one-to-one mapping reduces transcription errors and accelerates debugging. Octal (base 8) similarly maps groups of three bits, but hex dominates due to byte alignment (8 bits = 2 hex digits).

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Common Pitfalls:

Final Answer: