CSE 111, Fall 2004

Great Idea I:

Binary Representation

Last Update: 15 December 2004, 11:40 a.m.

Note: or material is highlighted

I. Boole's & Shannon's Idea.

All the information about any computable problem can be represented using only 2 nouns: 0, 1 (or any other bistable pair that can flip-flop between two easily distinguishable states, such as "on"/"off", "magnetized/de-magnetized", "high-voltage/low-voltage", etc.).

Strictly speaking, these can be used to represent discrete things; continuous things can be approximated to any desired degree, however.
For a literary and philosophical view of this, see:
- Quine, Willard van Orman (1987), Quiddities: An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), "Universal Library", pp. 223-225;
  - very short and definitely worth reading!
For more on Boole, with a local slant, see:
Roberts, Siobhan (2004), "The Isaac Newton of Logic", Toronto Globe and Mail (27 March).

Morse Code
Binary Codes
Interpreting (Binary) Codes
Propositional and Boolean Logic
Digital Representation of the Senses
Is the entire physical universe made of binary bits?
- Hayes, Brian (2004), "It or Bit?", Natural History 113(8) (October): 60-63, 66.
  - Abstract: Many of the sciences--genetics, for instance--seem preoccupied with information, not matter. That raises a basic question: Is information, not stuff, the essence of the universe?
  - A review of:
    Von Baeyer, Hans Christian (2004), Information: The New Language of Science (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).