[om] query on binary encoding of OpenMath

[W Naylor]

Hi,

I have a query regarding the binary encoding of big integers in OpenMath. 
I asked this question some months back but didn't get any response. So I'm 
going to try again, maybe someone can enlighten me ;-)

"I also have a query about the encoding for big integers, in the most
general form. Why are they encoded as a length, followed by the base 10 or
base 16 representation as characters? Surely if the idea of this encoding
is compactness, it is better to send the size and the value. This would 
give
a saving of a factor of two for base 16 and more for base 10! You don't
lose any information because you still know that the 'source' OpenMath is
base 10/16 because of the 'sign/base' byte."

cheers,

Bill

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