Binary number system
principle · 1703 · Early modern era
Numbers made of zeros and ones (Leibniz).
Where it is used
- Zuse Z3 — is used in. Binary floating-point arithmetic.
- Microprocessor — is used in. It works with binary numbers.
- Bit and information theory — is used in. A bit is a binary unit.
- Analog-to-digital converter — is used in. The output is a binary number.
- Barcode — is used in. The bars encode digits.
- Compact disc — is used in. Sound is recorded as numbers.
- ROM — is used in. It stores bits.
- Digital signal processor — is used in. It processes a digital signal.
History: what it evolved from and what it influenced
- Hindu–Arabic numerals — evolved from. A positional system with base 2.
Things built in a similar way
- Boolean algebra — works like. The 0 and 1 of a binary number correspond to “false” and “true” in Boolean logic.
- Morse code — works like. A code of two kinds of signal — dots and dashes.
- Braille — works like. Six dots — a six-bit code.