Post #2233263
2026-05-07 05:16 UTC
@log@mastodon.sdf.org @A_Minion@mastodon.social @alexadeswift@lgbtqia.space @gknauss@mastodon.social
yeah you're talking about the "radix economy"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_radix_choice
base 3 is a better choice than base 2 for computing in some ways
balanced ternary is absolutely beautiful mathematics
whenever i consider this topic of ternary computing i feel like i'm dealing with a genius idea or i'm taking drugs
i think it can find weird niches
like some 3 letter govt agency effort
but it seems binary took the world and steamrolled this CS exotic topic
Replies (1)
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@log@mastodon.sdf.org 2026-05-07 05:19
@benroyce@mastodon.social @A_Minion@mastodon.social @alexadeswift@lgbtqia.space @gknauss@mastodon.social Balanced ternary is indeed the computing poetry to binary's dry prose. But it turns out to be cheaper to build a boring chip twice than a beautiful one once.