Computing · 1703

Binary arithmetic

Everything written with just 0 and 1.

Leibniz published a systematic account of base-2 arithmetic in 1703, noting how simply it could be mechanized. Two centuries later binary became the native language of electronic computers.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Algebra 820

What it led to 1

Zuse Z3 1941

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6

Transistors per microprocessor Latest: 58.2B transistors (2021) Source: Our World in Data