Unlike our everyday counting system that uses tens, binary uses just two numbers, 0 and 1. Learn more with BBC Bitesize. Suitable for KS3 students.

Mangareva Island Wikimedia Commons Binary, or base two, is the number system that computer systems use, as opposed to the decimal, or base ten, system used in our day-to-day lives.

Binary is a number system that only uses two digits, 0 and 1. It was invented by German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Binary code is used widely in computer programming, so it is ...

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 ...

For example, here are the words “Science Friday Rules!” written in binary using peas and carrots: “Science Friday Rules!” written in binary using peas (0) and carrots (1) – A. Zych What else can you ...

They find that the former Mangarevans combined base-10 representation with a binary system. They had number words for 1 to 10, and then for 10 multiplied by several powers of 2.

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 ...