why does computers language only have 0 &1?

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why does computers language only have 0 &1?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Ultimately, even calling it 0’s and 1’s is for human readability. Computers operate on electrical voltages, and the common convention is that if a wire has 0 volts on it, that’s a “0”, but if it has 5 volts it’s a “1”. From there, it’s possible to build circuits that will add/subtract/set values/read values/etc., but from the computer’s standpoint, it’s just voltages running down wires, and through electrical components that just work through physics.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way, you could design a computer where it’s base 10 (and some very early computers did indeed work this way), by splitting the voltage range into various bands, and declaring that 0-1 volts is “0”, 1-2 volts is “1”, etc. but it’s a lot more complicated to build a computer that way. Plus you run the risk of what if the voltage is a sort of in-between value. Even in modern computers, the convention might be 5 volts = “1”, but in reality at one moment it might be 4.8 volts, another might be 5.1, there’s some variance there. In modern computers all of those are just interpreted as “1” by the computer. By having only two clear distinct set points, far apart, it makes it easier to tell what the voltage signals are “supposed” to be, even when they aren’t exactly at the perfect value.

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