Binary Numbers and Computers
Some History
The very first computers were made out of hundreds of vacuum tubes and
switches.
The vacuum tubes, shaped like light bulbs, determined the flow of
electric current.
As technology advanced, scientists and engineers developed new components
that are much smaller but still behave in the same manner as the vacuum
tubes and switches.
How do computers work?
You can still think of a computer as a collection of on-off switches.
The only thing that a computer knows is the position of its internal
switches.
When a switch is in the on position, the computer thinks of it as a 1.
And when a switch is in the off position, the computer thinks of it as a 0.
Look at the animation and see how the right most digit determines
whether the light is on or off.
Computers use numbers that are represented in binary, since they only
work with 0's and 1's.
Return to the main page