Why are memory addresses are represented using hexadecimal numbers?

Question

Whenever I see C programs that refer directly to a specific location on the memory (e.g. a memory barrier) it is done with hexadecimal numbers, also in windows when you get a segfualt it presents the memory being segfualted with a hexadecimal number.
For example: *(0x12DF)
I am wondering why memory addresses are represented using hexadecimal numbers?
Is there a special reason for that or is it just a convention?

Answer 1

Memory is often manipulated in terms of larger units, such as pages or segments, which tend to have sizes that are powers of 2. So if addresses are expressed in hex, it's much easier to read them as page+offset or similar constructs. Decimal is difficult because of that pesky factor of 5, and binary addresses are too long to be easily readable.

Answer 2

Its a much shorter way to represent what would otherwise be written in binary. It is also very nice and easy to convert hex to binary and back. Each 4 digits of binary corresponds to one digit of hex.