Binary number numerals. For example, the binary numeral 100 is pronounced "one zero zero", rather than "one hundred", to make its binary nature explicit, and for purposes of correctness. Since the binary numeral 100 represents the value four, it would be confusing to refer to the numeral as "one hundred" (a word that represents a completely different value, or amount). Alternatively, the binary numeral 100 can be read out as "four" (the correct "value"), but this does not make its binary nature explicit. Counting in binary is similar to counting in any other number system. Beginning with a single digit, counting proceeds
Binary number as by Bells, by Trumpets, by Lights and Torches, by the report of Muskets, and any instruments of like nature". (See Bacon's cipher.) John Napier in 1617 described a system he called location arithmetic for doing binary calculations using a non-positional representation by letters. Thomas Harriot investigated several positional numbering systems, including binary, but did not publish his results; they were found later among his papers. Possibly the first publication of the system in Europe was by Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, in 1700. Leibniz studied binary numbering in 1679; his work appears in his article "Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire" (published