Binary code The modern binary number system, the basis for binary code, was invented by Gottfried Leibniz in 1689 and appears in his article "Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire". The full title is translated into English as the "Explanation of the binary arithmetic", which uses only the characters 1 and 0, with some remarks on its usefulness, and on the light it throws on the ancient Chinese figures of Fu Xi." (1703). Leibniz's system uses 0 and 1, like the modern binary numeral system. Leibniz encountered the "I Ching" through French Jesuit Joachim Bouvet and noted with fascination how its hexagrams correspond to
Binary number y Lobkowitz, and Gottfried Leibniz. However, systems related to binary numbers have appeared earlier in multiple cultures including ancient Egypt, China, and India. Leibniz was specifically inspired by the Chinese I Ching. The scribes of ancient Egypt used two different systems for their fractions, Egyptian fractions (not related to the binary number system) and Horus-Eye fractions (so called because many historians of mathematics believe that the symbols used for this system could be arranged to form the eye of Horus, although this has been disputed). Horus-Eye fractions are a binary numbering system for fractional quantities of grain, liquids, or other