Binary - 1’s and 0’s
 Daily Life Numeric System

Daily Life Numeric System

In our daily life, we mostly use the denary number system (base-10) and this number system uses ten(10) digits which are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. When we write 10 on the paper there is a calculation behind it to make its value “ten”.

1 0
1 * 10^1 + 0 * 10^0

Basically there are digits and their values based on the number system. Each number system can use symbols.

Let’s have a look.

In this table, I highlighted numbers which are the capacity of number systems.

For example,

HEX(base-16) has 16 symbols.

BINARY(base-2) has 2 symbols.

OCTAL(base-8) has 8 symbols.

DECIMAL(base-10) has 10 symbols.

This means, the value of our(daily life) “ten” is different in each number system.

ten(10) is A on base-16 number system. ten(10) is 1010 on base-2 number system.

What we are doing actually is converting between number systems.

 Year 2038 problem.

Long story short these are just symbols that we are using to understand the ‘system’ around us.

“Number rules the universe.” Phytagoras

Why do Computers Use 1’s and 0’s?

To understand the reason why computers use binary systems we need to know about the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) and the ENIAC.

According to the Computer History Museum, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was completed in 1942.

In 1946, ENIAC was unveiled publicly.

There is a difference between these computer’s number systems.

ABC has a binary system and ENIAC has a decimal system. Both computers were using vacuum tubes.

Vacuum tubes were the first electronic mechanism to represent digits.

So, let’s have a look what’s the difference between binary and decimal numeric systems while using vacuum tubes.

For example, let’s try to store the value of 128.

ENIAC - decimal(base-10) numeric system

As you can see, we need 30 vacuum tubes to store the value of 128 and we need to switch on 11 tubes.

ABC - binary(base-2) numeric system

In a binary numeric system, we just need one vacuum tube switch on.

There is no doubt binary system is more efficient.

There is a word that we are using to describe the smallest unit of data in computers a.k.a bit (Binary digIT).

bit

1bit stores just a 1 or 0.

1 means to switch on / true

0 means to switch off / false

What I mean by switch on / switch off is more understandable with transistors.

transistor

We know that early computers were using vacuum tubes to represent digits.

After vacuum tubes, the transistor was successfully demonstrated on December 23, 1947, at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hull, New Jersey. Bell Labs is the research arm of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T).

So how transistors switch on and switch off is described below.

Basically, these transistors switch on and switch off to represent digits and more.