Definition:Binary Notation/Historical Note
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Historical Note on Binary Notation
The earliest known reference to binary notation appears to be in a Chinese book dating from approximately $3000$ B.C.E.
In Europe, binary notation was invented by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz.
He associated God with $1$ and nothingness with $0$, and believed that it was mystically significant that all numbers could be built from $1$-ness and $0$-ness.
Sources
- 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $2$
- 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $2$