HistoryLesson 39Free preview

History of Numbers

This lesson is part of A.I. · All levels

Summary

Before the modern computer, humans had developed a number system and tools like the abacus. Modern computers process everything in a binary number system (base 2) because electronics easily represent the conditions 0 and 1. Understanding the conversion between bases helps us see how numbers are stored on the computer.

Key points

The abacus is one of the oldest ancient tools of mathematics.
The Roman numeral system is more difficult for arithmetic operations than the decimal system.
Computers use binaries: each digit is worth a multiple of 2 times its position.
Other common bases: octal (base 8) and hexadecimal (base 16).
All the data on the computer is ultimately represented as 0 and 1.

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