China: Numeral System or Binary Numeral System, Which Uses Only Two Symbols: Typically "0" (

n mathematics and digital electronics, a binary number is a number expressed in the base-2
numeral system or binary numeral system, which uses only two symbols: typically "0" (zero) and
"1" (one).
The base-2 numeral system is a positional notation with a radix of 2. Each digit is referred to as a bit.
Because of its straightforward implementation in digital electronic circuitry using logic gates, the
binary system is used by almost all modern computers and computer-based devices.
The modern binary number system was studied in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries by Thomas
Harriot, Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, and Gottfried Leibniz. However, systems related to binary
numbers have appeared earlier in multiple cultures including ancient Egypt, China, and India.
Leibniz was specifically inspireThe scribes of ancient Egypt used two different systems for their
fractions, Egyptian fractions (not related to the binary number system) and Horus-Eye fractions (so
called because many historians of mathematics believe that the symbols used for this system could
be arranged to form the eye of Horus, although this has been disputed). [1] Horus-Eye fractions are a
binary numbering system for fractional quantities of grain, liquids, or other measures, in which a
fraction of a hekat is expressed as a sum of the binary fractions 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64.
Early forms of this system can be found in documents from the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, approximately
2400 BC, and its fully developed hieroglyphic form dates to the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt,
approximately 1200 BC.[2]
The method used for ancient Egyptian multiplication is also closely related to binary numbers. In this
method, multiplying one number by a second is performed by a sequence of steps in which a value
(initially the first of the two numbers) is either doubled or has the first number added back into it; the
order in which these steps are to be performed is given by the binary representation of the second
number. This method can be seen in use, for instance, in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, which
dates to around 1650 BC.[3]
China
The I Ching dates from the 9th century BC in China.[4] The binary notation in the I Ching is used to
interpret its quaternary divination technique.[5]
It is based on taoistic duality of yin and yang.[6] eight trigrams (Bagua) and a set of 64 hexagrams
("sixty-four" gua), analogous to the three-bit and six-bit binary numerals, were in use at least as early
as the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China.[4]
The Song Dynasty scholar Shao Yong (1011–1077) rearranged the hexagrams in a format that
resembles modern binary numbers, although he did not intend his arrangement to be used
mathematically.[5] Viewing the least significant bit on top of single hexagrams in Shao Yong's
square and reading along rows either from bottom right to top left with solid lines as 0 and broken
lines as 1 or from top left to bottom right with solid lines as 1 and broken lines as 0 hexagrams can
be interpreted as sequence from 0 to 63. [7]
Leibniz studied binary numbering in 1679; his work appears in his article Explication de
l'Arithmétique Binaire (published in 1703) The full title of Leibniz's article is translated into English as
the "Explanation of Binary Arithmetic, which uses only the characters 1 and 0, with some remarks on
its usefulness, and on the light it throws on the ancient Chinese figures of Fu Xi".[19] (1703). Leibniz's
system uses 0 and 1, like the modern binary numeral system. An example of Leibniz's binary
numeral system is as follows:[19]
0 0 0 1 numerical value 20
Leibniz interpreted the hexagrams of the I Ching as evidence of binary calculus.
[20]
As a Sinophile, Leibniz was aware of the I Ching, noted with fascination how its
hexagrams correspond to the binary numbers from 0 to 111111, and concluded that
this mapping was evidence of major Chinese accomplishments in the sort of
philosophical mathematics he admired.[21] Leibniz was first introduced to the I
Ching through his contact with the French Jesuit Joachim Bouvet, who visited China
in 1685 as a missionary. Leibniz saw the I Ching hexagrams as an affirmation of
the universality of his own religious beliefs as a Christian.[20] Binary numerals were
central to Leibniz's theology. He believed that binary numbers were symbolic of the
Christian idea of creatio ex nihilo or creation out of nothing.[22]
[A concept that] is not easy to impart to the pagans, is the creation ex nihilo through
God's almighty power. Now one can say that nothing in the world can better present
and demonstrate this power than the origin of numbers, as it is presented here
through the simple and unadorned presentation of One and Zero or Nothing.
— Leibniz's letter to the Duke of Brunswick attached with the I Ching hexagrams[20]

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n mathematics and digital electronics, a binary number is a number expressed in the base-2

— Leibniz's letter to the Duke of Brunswick attached with the I Ching hexagrams[20]

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