Beyond 1s and 0s... (from 2 states to 8)

[kwah]

Perhaps I'm sidestepping the point of the OP by talking about 'ternary' but if I remember correctly, the optimal number of 'states' in terms of storage is equal to the mathematical 'e' (2.718...).

 

In practice however, base 3 would give a more realistic 'optimal' speed in reading / writing data since it is a rounded number and is closer to e and therefore is more optimal than base 2 (binary).

 

 

In terms of quantum computing, I'm under the impression that the reason for its speed is due to quantum theory, not due to it being an optimal design // base 4? I mean, if signals (electrons) were to travel down a copper wire / amongst the electronics in a PC then maybe things would be different?

 

EDIT: Also, without going down to assembly / binary level, how would a 1000line program in a higher-level language be written in any fewer lines? This will be 3 lines regardless of how you store it.

if(x=y){ 
// do something
}

 

 

 

Anyhow, my first post so be nice please

 

Kwah

Edited January 27, 2009 by kwah

[john5746]

Just throwing the link below in regards to quantum computing with Analog logic.

 

Analogue Logic Quantum Computing

 

There is of course fuzzy logic and analog logic I think in relation to RF, but not sure if that is at the transistor level.

 

I don't think this would be a replacement for binary logic, but for certain applications.

[Baby Astronaut]

Might the additive primary colors gain us two more states?

 

Off can still be 0. Then we have red = 1, green = 2, and blue = 3.

 

The first I would say is a little misleading as each qubit would still be a 1 and/or 0, and the system would still be fundamentally binary.

I don't see how.

 

Instead of an electron being there or not there in the gate of a transistor—basically two pieces of information—think about an electron being able to hold a million pieces of information...

 

Clearly, it seems to transcend binary.

[Klaynos]

What do you encode the colours on? Photons of different wavelength is the obvious one, but how do you get them to interact?

 

It's missleading because if you read the papers about that kind of thing they're still binary systems, and each qubit is similar to each bit.

[Baby Astronaut]

What do you encode the colours on? Photons of different wavelength is the obvious one, but how do you get them to interact?

Do you mean one photon with another? If so, that's not what I meant. A receptor of some type is necessary to distinguish between each color, and would possibly replace the function of logic gates.

[Klaynos]

Do you mean one photon with another? If so, that's not what I meant. A receptor of some type is necessary to distinguish between each color, and would possibly replace the function of logic gates.

 

Using some device is fine in this case to make them "interact". I'm wondering how you could get the receptor to do logic functions, that's mostly the problem with trying to think up new ways of doing computation, not thinking of ways to encode the data but thinking of ways to do the logic.