Johannes von Gmünden

[bi3mw]

A bit of binary, Anne McLaughlin, 23 August 2022

Note: An early introduction of zero and one (MS/47, Tractatus de Arithmetica, ca. 1200).

MS 47, in introducing the new numbers, echoes exactly this definition: ‘1’ is the ‘unit’ (unitas), an object, something present and countable, while ‘0’, ‘has nothing of significance’ (cum nulla significatio), and only functions to define the absence of another figure.

So this number system was already known in the High Middle Ages. There was enough time for the possible development of a binary number system ( in the sense of a two-character code ) in the late Middle Ages. However, nothing on this subject could be found online.

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Edit: Here is another identical sequence from a different 15th-century manuscript. An astrological-medical compendium with a calendar,, BSB Clm 4394
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