Xref: utzoo sci.math:7176 comp.misc:6476 rec.humor:24231 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!sharkey!itivax!scs From: scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) Newsgroups: sci.math,comp.misc,rec.humor Subject: Re: Trinary (was: Re: Base 3 computers? (was: Divide by three?)) Message-ID: <1917@itivax.iti.org> Date: 2 Jul 89 20:48:18 GMT References: <6710021@hpcupt1.HP.COM> <872@corpane.UUCP> Followup-To: sci.math Organization: Industrial Technology Institute, Ann Arbor, MI. Lines: 25 sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes: >In article <626@hrc63.co.uk> pj@hrc63.co.uk (Mr P Johnson "Baddow") writes: >>Nearest I ever heard of to this was in Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast", >>where there was a computer which used trinary. In a throw-away line, one >>character deduced that it must use three phase power. >Tis very simple: >Binary computers have 2 states: 1 (true, yes, on) and 0 (false, no, off) >Trinary would add a third state: -1 , the "Maybe" state. . . Harrumph. To paraphrase from my (1983?) Datamation article "The Quark, Of Course" (I'm not kidding!): In a trinary logic system, the basic unit of information is the 'trit', corresponding to the 'bit'. As bits are grouped into bytes, so three trits form a 'trite'. Three trites parallel the word, and are called a 'trylobite'. Three trylobites form a 'nynobite'. Finally, an arbitrary null-terminated string of trites is a 'cliche'. -- Steve Simmons scs@vax3.iti.org Industrial Technology Institute Ann Arbor, MI. "Velveeta -- the Spam of Cheeses!" -- Uncle Bonsai