Binary code: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Bernhard Christoph Francke.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gottfried Leibniz]]]]

The modern binary number system, the basis for binary code, was invented by [[Gottfried Leibniz]] in 16891703 and appears in his article ''Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire''. The full title is translated into English as the "Explanation of the 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]].<ref name="lnz">Leibniz G., Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire, Die Mathematische Schriften, ed. C. Gerhardt, Berlin 1879, vol.7, p.223; Engl. transl.[http://www.leibniz-translations.com/binary.htm]</ref> Leibniz's system uses 0 and 1, like the modern binary numeral system. Leibniz encountered the ''[[I Ching]]'' through French Jesuit [[Joachim Bouvet]] and noted with fascination how its [[hexagram (I Ching)|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 visual binary [[mathematics]] he admired.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Aiton|first=Eric J.|title=Leibniz: A Biography|year=1985|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-85274-470-3|pages=245–8}}</ref><ref name="smith"/> Leibniz saw the hexagrams as an affirmation of the universality of his own religious belief.<ref name="smith">{{cite book|author1=J.E.H. Smith|title=Leibniz: What Kind of Rationalist?: What Kind of Rationalist?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Da_oP3sJs1oC&pg=PA4153|year=2008|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4020-8668-7|page=415}}</ref>

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.<ref name="on">{{cite book|author1=Yuen-Ting Lai|title=Leibniz, Mysticism and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9dOmVt81UAC&pg=PA149|year=1998|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-7923-5223-5|pages=149–150}}</ref> Leibniz was trying to find a system that converts logic verbal statements into a pure mathematical one{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}. After his ideas were ignored, he came across a classic Chinese text called ''I Ching'' or 'Book of Changes', which used 64 hexagrams of six-bit visual binary code. The book had confirmed his theory that life could be simplified or reduced down to a series of straightforward propositions. He created a system consisting of rows of zeros and ones. During this time period, Leibniz had not yet found a use for this system.<ref name="Gottfried Leibniz">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kerryr.net/pioneers/leibniz.htm|title=Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716)|website=www.kerryr.net}}</ref>