Bits and Bytes (Binary)
Electricity can be on or off. That's it. So how do computers hold numbers?
Last updated
Electricity can be on or off. That's it. So how do computers hold numbers?
Last updated
A bicycle has two wheels, a binomial has two... nomials, and we (humans) are bipedal - we have two feet! Electricity has two states - on (1) and off (0). This means we need a number system that allows us to count using only two digits.
Our decimal number system has ten 'digits', just like our fingers - which we also call digits (similar to 'digital' - no?). Our placeholders can have any of the digits 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Once over 9, we increase the next placeholder by one and roll the 9 to 0.
Since electricity can either be on (|) or off (O), ether flowing (1) or not flowing (0), we are unable to use the decimal system to represent numbers - we only have two states, not ten!
