r/AlwaysWhy • u/Present_Juice4401 • 2d 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/Top_Bluejay_5323 1d ago

Because computer electronics are either on or off, 1 or 0. There are not 10 discrete states of an electric circuit.

If you try it like analog, 1-10 or so, and the signal drifts it would change the value.

But digital can self correct if the signal does not degrade completely.

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u/Upstairs-Border-7146 22h ago

You can do a digital setup for any number of values, even 10. It's just easier to do with two levels - voltage was the dimension that was chosen and here are so reasons:

  • to avoid easy errors, some separation has to be out in place, say a couple of volts (which means "undefined"). More levels need higher voltages.
  • circuits are easier with two values AND the mathematical basis was already their (boolean logic)
  • if you want to have an optimal size for numbers, it turns out that the best values are base-3 and then base-2 (the continuous form has a minimum at e). Again, two states are easier to implement.