Skew binary number system non-zero digits, a form called the sparse representations of numbers by Okasaki, incrementation and decrementation can be performed in constant time. Other arithmetic operations are performed by switching between the skew binary representation and the binary representation. Given a skew binary number, its value can be computed by a loop, computing the successive values of formula_4 and adding it once or twice for each formula_5 such that the formula_5th digit is 1 or 2 respectively. A more efficient method is now given, with only bit representation and one substraction. The skew binary number of the form formula_7 without 2 and
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