Bi-quinary coded decimal: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:00, 13 July 2022

Revision as of 22:23, 13 July 2022

Line 6:

'''Bi-quinary coded decimal''' is a [[numeral system|numeral encoding scheme]] used in many [[abacus]]es and in some early computers, including the [[Colossus computer|Colossus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thrx3SBEpL8&list=WL&index=17&t=0s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/thrx3SBEpL8| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Why Use Binary? - Computerphile |publisher=YouTube |date=2015-12-04 |access-date=2020-12-10}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The term '''''bi-quinary''''' indicates that the code comprises both a two-state (''bi'') and a five-state (''quin''ary) component. The encoding resembles that used by many abacuses, with four beads indicating either 0 through 4 or 5 through 9 and another bead indicating which of those ranges.

Several human languages, most notably [[Fula language|Fula]], and [[Wolof language|Wolof]], and [[Khmer numerals|Khmer]], also use biquinary systems. For example, the Fula word for 6, ''jowi e go'o'', literally means ''five [plus] one''. The numerals from 0 to 9 in [[Japanese Sign Language]] is based on bi-quinary, with the thumb acting as 5 units, and the rest of the fingers each standing for 1 unit. [[Roman numerals]] use a symbolic, rather than positional, bi-quinary base, even though [[Latin]] is completely decimal, which attest to their African origin.

==Examples==