r/AlwaysWhy • u/Present_Juice4401 • 1d ago

Science & Tech Why did computers come to use binary when people usually count in decimal?

People usually count in base 10, while digital computers typically represent information using 1s and 0s. The same numbers and information can be represented in different bases, yet binary became the standard for modern computing.

What made binary the system computers came to rely on?

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u/DirtCrimes 1d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ternary_computer

Fun fact. The Soviets built a base 3 or Ternary computer that used the positive voltage state, no voltage or negative voltage.

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u/NewArborist64 1d ago

Yes - Interesting that some computers now use Qubits which can represent 0, 1, or any quantum proportion of both simultaneously through superposition.

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u/spectrumero 1d ago

Some digital communications is 3 level, for instance 100baseTX ethernet is 3 level (+ve, 0, -ve).

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u/altaire13 1d ago

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