Answer:
If we are talking about computer science:
The decimal numbers are the numbers that we use every-day (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
The use of these "symbols" facilitates a lot of things because the decimal numbers are easier to read and use than the binary system, so the "underlying complexity decimal numbers were used to represent" are the bits.