Trinary

[GameSnake]

I remember a thread on [vL]'s forum in "advanced programming" someone proposed the theory of "trinary", everyone debated if it was possible or not and most said it was not plausable.

Well it is not only plausible (admittidly not as universal as binary)  it is an implemented method of basic computing code, much like binary.

Heres some information on it. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci931627,00.html

Interesting stuff I guess. Just thought iago would care or somthing.

[drka]

right now it isnt possible because none of our technology supports trinary. computers have been using binary since...forever. well according to that thread :P.

and Metal Militia started the thread.

edit: ok wth. that definition says that 1 = neutrality meaning neither false nor true. how can anything be not false and not true?

[Joe]

0x00
0x01
0x02

Instead of
0x00
0x01

That will save us a whole crapload of space in the long run. I don't feel like finding out how many bits would be in a byte then, but it will be less.

[c0n]

right now it isnt possible because none of our technology supports trinary. computers have been using binary since...forever. well according to that thread :P.

and Metal Militia started the thread.

edit: ok wth. that definition says that 1 = neutrality meaning neither false nor true. how can anything be not false and not true?

wrong. http://xyzzy.freeshell.org/trinary/
and... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinary

oh and, Joe, that is not how you express it... that would be hexadecimal.

[GameSnake]

Balanced ternary is easily represented as electronic signals, as potential can either be negative, neutral, or positive. Utilizing a third state encompasses more data per digit; linearly approximately log(3)/log(2)=~1.589 bits per trit.

Then how come it isn't widely used?

I can understand the basic concept: 2 is the third electric capacity of "nuetral", thus adding another current and more frequencys can travel.

Any uber nerd want to comment on this?

[rabbit]

If you read the vL thread in its entirety, you'd have noticed that trinary isn't used because detecting the third state would require more precise measuring, requiring more time.  The gray area in the middle of 0 and 1 in binary gives enoug lee-weigh to give binary its speed and power.  Trying to calculate exactly what is 0, 1, or 2 would be slower and less efficient.

[c0n]

If you read the vL thread in its entirety, you'd have noticed that trinary isn't used because detecting the third state would require more precise measuring, requiring more time.  The gray area in the middle of 0 and 1 in binary gives enoug lee-weigh to give binary its speed and power.  Trying to calculate exactly what is 0, 1, or 2 would be slower and less efficient.

indeed l0l. also, i heard on irc a long time ago that trinary iz uzed in quantum computing.

[rabbit]

That's because quantum computers are an assload faster, more accurate, and efficient than traditional computers.

[iago]

oh and, Joe, that is not how you express it... that would be hexadecimal.

So?  A hexadecimal number is still a number.