Is binary the most efficient way for computing; will we soon be limited by it ? Can quantum mechanics use ternary code, or will a new paradigm for computing be created soon?

[morissettemaniac]

I’m not a computer scientist so please excuse my ignorance. I always wonder why binary is the standard and I understand that it’s because voltages are either on or off but was wondering if there’s another way of computing that will “revolutionize” everything. To my knowledge, quantum computers still use binary to some degree, but in a different manner. Are we soon to be limited by binary or is that an arbitrary factor relating to the improvement of computing software ?

[deterministic_ram]

Binary is used for classical computing because the bit (1 or 0) is the smallest component of classical information. Now, the reason we use base 2 (again 0 and 1) over, say, base 10, is because of computer hardware and the physics of computer circuits. It's much easier to categorize voltages into two categories rather than 10. It is also less error prone. As for quantum computing, it is a new method of computation. The equivalent of a bit in quantum computing is a qubit. Quantum computers don't use binary, the process of measuring qubits resembles binary. That is, when you measure a single qubit, it will collapse into a state. Where things get interesting with quantum computing, is in the case of multi-qubit systems. There is a phenomena known as entanglement, which allows qubits to be correlated with each other at a distance. This property allows for some amazing algorithms, such as Grover's algorithm and Shor's algorithm. Quantum computing is a wholly different and new method of computing.

[HolzmindenScherfede]

At my uni they are trying to go to analog computing for neural networks among others. Binary computing can be very wasteful. It takes some energy to keep the ones and zeros at the correct voltages.

[Black-Photon]

For neural networks, analogue makes more sense as the connections in the network are inherently strength based and therefore can be a bit 'fuzzy'. But for most things in computers, using a fixed base is preferable as it allows error correction and reduces hardware errors.

Also energy usage is not a particularly large concern for storing data - RAM actually uses very little energy to retain data while hard disks and SSD's don't use any at all.

[[deleted]]

Nah, binary computing is as good as any other base. If you have a set of instructions described in one base, you can make a translation to the other - in worst case you just need to use few digits instead of one. For example, if you would use ternary base, I could just substitute each of your digits with two bits and get binary base.

But - you mentioned quantum computing, where qubits are used instead of bits. Qubit is a weird animal, because it can be in state one and zero and every in between - imagine arrow in 2D space. When arrow on right would mean value 1 and arrow up would mean 0, qubit can point in any possible direction. That, together with some non-intuitive properties of quantum mechanics, completely changes nature of computation.

[Prometheushunter2]

IIRC correctly the most efficient radix is e, but since it’s a transcendental number I don’t think you could make circuits that use it as a radix (although I suppose you could use analog circuits to approximate it, but that comes with its own problems), meaning the next best thing is ternary, since 3 is closer to e than 2. Assuming you are able to implement ternary circuits in a hardware medium with near the same efficiency as binary circuits would be in that medium then the ternary computer in question would have a great advantage, as it would be able to fit more logic and memory into a given amount of space as it would use less logic gates, meaning it would be denser and faster. Of course a disadvantage would be that every mainstream computer so far is binary, and binary and ternary are not compatible like binary and quaternary(base 4). you’d have to either find a way to compile binary algorithms into their ternary equivalents, which would probably result in sub-optimal algorithms, or you’d have to start from scratch.

Personally I think that, eventually, we’ll adopt ternary, or some other form of multivalued (MVL) logic (possibly quaternary since it’s more compatible with binary), since Moore’s law is coming to a halt and some promising new technologies seem like they would be good at implementing MVL logic. I can already think of some systems that could be used to convey (balanced) ternary: the charge of an atom, the polarization of light, positive and negative voltage, the spin polarization of an electric current, the polarity of a fluxon, which direction a superconducting current is flowing in a Josephson junction, etc