: Why are computers limited to 0s and 1s? Why can’t we use numbers like 2s and 3s for more Efficiency?
In: 17
We could, and we have in the past. *Ternary computation* (computation in base 3) was used as early as the late nineteenth century, and the ternary computer Setun was built in Moscow in 1958. Ternary semiconductor design research is currently ongoing in South Korea as recently as 2019.
That all said, binary computation is currently dominant because it’s easier and cheaper at the moment to put the components together. Ternary is a subject of interest for exactly the reason you cite: energy and computational efficiency.
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