Digital Research: Inventing with Computers

Every digital tool, from personal music players to the computers used to land spacecrafts on Mars, is built around the basic principles of the binary number system. In the 17th century, German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated that all numbers could be represented using only two digits: 0 and 1. His system allowed scientists to combine the digits to do computations and store information in a way that was simple and easy to interpret. Modern digital systems became possible by converting things like sound waves into the binary system. Digital Research: Inventing with Computers examines how scientists and researchers have used digital systems to produce some of the tools and gadgets that we use in our everyday lives. It also looks at the effects technology has had on quality of life and how the applications of digital systems have impacted our culture and society by providing new ways of doing things.