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Ternary
A '''computer''' is a machine that is designed to perform a huge variety of information-processing tasks, depending on the program it has stored in its memory. Computers manipulate all data in the form of numbers, and encode all numbers in either [[binary|binary code]], which is base 2, or in the case of quantum computers, trinary code which is base 3. Binary means that there can only be a 1 or a 0 in any data. This makes it possible to process data electronically, since one voltage can be used to represent a zero and another voltage for a one. Trinary systems are far more complicated, and still in development. The average personal or server computer uses binary.
A '''computer''' is a machine that is designed to perform a huge variety of information-processing tasks, depending on the program it has stored in its memory. Computers manipulate all data in the form of numbers, and encode all numbers in either [[binary|binary code]], which is base 2, or in the case of quantum computers, ternary code which is base 3. Binary means that there can only be a 1 or a 0 in any data. This makes it possible to process data electronically, since one voltage can be used to represent a zero and another voltage for a one. Ternary systems are far more complicated, and still in development. The average personal or server computer uses binary.
==History==
==History==
[[Image:Babbage.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Contemporary (1800's) illustration of what Charles Babbage's Difference Engine might have looked like.]]
[[Image:Babbage.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Contemporary (1800's) illustration of what Charles Babbage's Difference Engine might have looked like.]]
Embedded computers are controllers built into the device they control. These are found in digital wrist watches, [[car]]s, landline telephones, and more.<ref name="WorldBook01">The World Book Encyclopedia. 2001 ed. Vol. 4. Chicago: World Book, 2001. Print. Pages 908-94</ref>
Embedded computers are controllers built into the device they control. These are found in digital wrist watches, [[car]]s, landline telephones, and more.<ref name="WorldBook01">The World Book Encyclopedia. 2001 ed. Vol. 4. Chicago: World Book, 2001. Print. Pages 908-94</ref>
==Binary and ternary==
Binary has always been used by computers and is somewhat familiar to most. However, some of the newest supercomputers now use ternary systems.
===Binary===
Since the beginning of the digital computer, and even before this (when computers were mechanical), computers have always used "ones" and "zeros" for every calculation and operation. *The processor and circuitry operate using electrical pulses. A pulse is a "one" while a pause (no additional energy sent) is a "zero."
*The [[Random-access memory|RAM]] switches are held in one position ("one") or released to the other ("zero")
*Magnetic disks are magnetized to positive or negative, which represent "zero" and "one"
*Optical disks have their foil melted by laser to show "zero" vs. "one"
*Flash memory has microscopic toggle switches which are set to "one" or "zero"
Every part of a binary computer uses theses "ones" and "zeros" for everything.
===Ternary===
A new and evolving kind of computer breaks the "rules" of computer design entirely. Using properties of [[quantum mechanics]], these computers make use of alternate states of matter which can only exist very near [[absolute zero]]. Using these, a [[quantum computer]] can not only use ones and zeros, but also a sort of "both one and zero." Ternary processors must be kept incredibly cold, however. Due to this problem, as well as many other technical issues, that ternary computers are not commercially available. For now, these remain restricted to laboratories where space and liquid nitrogen are plentiful. However, it is believed that they may
eventually replace binary computers.<ref>"quantum computer." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 31 May. 2016. <http://0-academic.eb.com.www.consuls.org/EBchecked/topic/746092/quantum-computer>.</ref>
==See Also==
==See Also==
*[[Ada Lovelace]]
*[[Ada Lovelace]]