Ternary computer

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A ternary computer is a computer that is based on a three-valued logic with three possible values for its calculations - instead of the more common classical logic (binary logic) with two possible values .

history

One of the first calculating machines , which was made entirely of wood by the inventor Thomas Fowler in 1840 , was a ternary computer. The only modern ternary computer, Setun , was developed in 1958 by Nikolai Petrovich Brusenzov at Lomonosov University in Moscow and had some advantages over binary computers, such as lower energy consumption and lower production costs. In 1970 Brusenzov developed an improved version of the Setun computer called the Setun-70.

Balanced ternary logic

Ternary data processing is often implemented on the basis of balanced ternary logic , which allows the states 0, 1 and −1. The opposite number of each balanced ternary number is found by swapping each −1 by 1 and vice versa. This means that negative numbers can be represented just as easily as positive numbers, since, in contrast to the decimal system, no negative sign has to be noted. This fact makes some calculations in the ternary system more efficient than in the binary system.

The future

With the advent of mass-produced binary components for computers, ternary computers became a minor footnote in computer history. Nonetheless, given the elegance and efficiency of ternary logic , Donald Knuth predicted a return of ternary computers in the future. Possible ways in which the further development of ternary computers could develop in the future is to combine an optical computer with the ternary system. A ternary computer using optical fibers could use dark as 0 and two orthogonal polarizations of light as 1 and −1. This future potential was also recognized by some companies, e.g. B. Hypres, who were actively involved in ternary computer technology. Even IBM is irregularly out reports of ternary computing, although the company itself operates in this direction no research.

literature

  • Francis Hunger: Setun. A research on the Soviet ternary computer . University of Graphics and Book Art Leipzig, 2007, ISBN 3-932865-48-0 (German, English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nikolay Petrovich Brusentsov, Jose Ramil Alvarez: Ternary computer: The Zeitun and the Zeitun 70 . In: J. Impagliazzo, E. Proydakov (Eds.): SoRuCom 2006, IFIP AICT 357 . IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2011, pp. 74-80 (accessed May 9, 2016).
  2. ↑ Andreas de Vries: Das Ternärsystem , 2013, p. 15 (accessed on November 10, 2017).
  3. ^ Donald Ervin Knuth: The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2: Seminumerical Algorithms . 2nd ed. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. 1980, ISBN 0-201-03822-6 , pp. 190-192 (in English).
  4. ↑ Ternary Optical Computer (in English)

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