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allanb (Guest)
guest
Jan-06-01, 01:55 PM (EST)
 
"origins of binary"
 
   Hello,

I wanted to send you an email and congratulate you on your very informative website. Do you know who invented binary? I have been trying to find this out for quite some time now and I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Allan


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alexb
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672 posts
Jan-06-01, 02:00 PM (EST)
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1. "RE: origins of binary"
In response to message #0
 
   It was Leibniz who first described the binary system. He was fascinated with the idea of God (1) creating everything out of nothing (0).

Check the first few links at

https://www.hotbot.lycos.com/?search=1&MT=Leibniz

where the fact is mentioned, or Encyclopedia Britannica:

https://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,48789+2+47669,00.html|https://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,48789+2+47669,00.html>

All the best,
Alexander Bogomolny


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Allan (Guest)
guest
Jan-12-01, 01:51 PM (EST)
 
2. "RE: origins of binary"
In response to message #1
 
   Hello Alex,

I came across this pages which talks about binary and the Egyptians. https://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/eghier.html

It's interesting.

All the best
Allan


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alexb
Charter Member
672 posts
Jan-12-01, 01:54 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: origins of binary"
In response to message #2
 
   Allan, thank you.

There is a remark on that page:

"Early Egyptian Hieroglyphic mathematics used
"decimal Description, as we do now, and
"binary calculation, as do our computers,"

which is a little far fetched as the Egyptians did not have a positional system. I believe in Dantzig's "Numbers" he mentions an australian aborigine tribe who know to count to 6: 1, 2, 1-2, 2-2, 1-2-2, 2-2-2, many.

But the page and the links it provides are indeed interesting.

Thank you again,
Alexander Bogomolny


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