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"David T. Ashley" <dta@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:LYydnQUocI0qwQrYnZ2dnUVZ_uSgnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1167543213.802821.253360@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>I was just wondering why people tend to use a base 10 number system. I
>> can't help but wonder if it is due to us having ten fingers. Anyone
>> have any insight into this?
>
> It is definitely due to having 10 fingers.
>
> The reason for base-2 with computers is that it is easier to build an
> electronic circuit that is stable in two states rather than in a larger
> number of states.
The original reason for base-2 in computers was that this was simply an
electric circuit either being on or off.
See Logic gates http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/gates.htm#not
>
> See:
>
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics)
There is nothing there!
> Trust me, computers would have been base-10 if the underlying fabrication
> technology supported it.
"George R. Stibitz is internationally recognized as the father of the modern
digital computer. Stibitz's interest in computers arose from an assignment
in 1937 to study magneto-mechanics of telephone relays; he turned his
attention to the binary circuits controlled by the relays, to the arithmetic
operations expressible in binary form, and, in November 1937, to the
construction of a two-digit binary adder. The next year, with the help of
S.B. Williams of Bell Labs, he developed a full-scale calculator for complex
arithmetic. This computer was operational late in 1939 and was demonstrated
in 1940 by remote control between Hanover, New Hampshire, and New York.
Several binary computers of greater sophistication followed. In these were
introduced the excess 3 code, floating decimal arithmetic, self-checking
circuits, jump program instructions, taped programs and 'table-hunting'
subcomputers."
www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/140.html">http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/140.html
See also www.greatachievements.org/?id=3981">http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3981
and
www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/computers/data/m0005781.html">http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/computers/data/m0005781.html
Nick
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