AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE USES OF TERNARY LOGIC IN DIGITAL COMPUTERS.

Abstract

Digital computers presently in production are all binary logic machines, in that they are built with elements that have two stable states. Greater efficiency in computer speed and hardware would be obtained if elements with other than two states were used. Attempts are now in progress to find devices that have this property. The next logical step beyond binary would be ternary. A study of ternary algebras is made with emphasis on computer applications. Functional completeness and expansion theorems are introduced to show their usefulness in computer design. An adder circuit using three level logic is described and a measure of effectiveness using cost and complexity as criteria is made. It can be predicated that, as the binary computer approaches its ultimate in speed, more attention will be placed on N-valued logic machines. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1964
Accession Number
AD0621976

Entities

People

  • Richard D. Friichtenicht

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computers
  • Digital Computers
  • Efficiency

Readers

  • Computer Engineering
  • Theoretical Analysis.