This Number System Beats Binary, But Most Computers Can’t Use It Why do computers only work with the numbers 0 and 1? There are machines that process three digits with more efficiency than you ...

What is binary? Binary is a number system that only uses two digits: 1 and 0. All information that is processed by a computer is in the form of a sequence of 1s and 0s.

The natives of a remote Polynesian Island invented a binary number system, similar to the one used by computers to calculate, centuries before Western mathematicians did, new research suggests.