metaphorm t1_j9vbp62 wrote
Reply to comment by ComesInAnOldBox in ELI5: Why do we only use 1 and 0 for binary? Could we create a trinary system introducing an extra '2'? by No-Mammoth-1638
no, that's wrong. you're confusing logical circuits with binary arithmetic. there's an algebraic equivalency between them (Boolean algebra) but they aren't the same thing.
binary is a base of number representation. 0 and 1 have the same meaning in this context as they do in any other number representation context.
in computer systems, binary numbers are used to encode all kinds of different information, not only the state of a logical circuit.
ComesInAnOldBox t1_j9vg2bm wrote
Today, sure, but the original use of binary in computer systems came from "powered or unpowered," and binary data is stored or transmitted in a variety of ways and represents two opposing states: on or off, positive or negative, up or down, high frequency or low frequency, 0 degrees and 180 degrees phase states, black or white, etc.
Binary arithmetic is what it does with the information, while the binary itself is how the data itself is represented.
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