question about binary

[Journer]

why are all electronics still binary? i understand how and why it works, but i dont understand why there hasnt been any transistors with more than just 1 and 0s. the way i understand it, the advancement of most technology is based on how many transistors we can cram into one physical area. well what if we had transistors that could be off, on, partially off, partially on, etc. instead of 0v pulse and 5v pulse you could have more exact pulses in between and so on. i know about memsistors but that is a bit different unless i am mistaken. could someone explain why there have been no advancements in the sense i am speaking of?

 

[iBPJohn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Journer
why are all electronics still binary? i understand how and why it works, but i dont understand why there hasnt been any transistors with more than just 1 and 0s.

Tri-state logic was developed years ago. Its in use right now in your pc. There is also fuzzy logic which also is decades old.

The way i understand it, the advancement of most technology is based on how many transistors we can cram into one physical area. well what if we had transistors that could be off, on, partially off, partially on, etc. instead of 0v pulse and 5v pulse you could have more exact pulses in between and so on. i know about memsistors but that is a bit different unless i am mistaken. could someone explain why there have been no advancements in the sense i am speaking of?

What you are describing is already done with analog circuits, nothing there to invent.

 

[Journer]

well then, shows how much i know, right? lol that quantum computing article is interesting

 

[esun]

They built a ternary computer before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ternary_computer

It's not that we can't make one, it's just that we're so good at making binary computers that changing will likely not produce as good results.

Another potential issue is that with the current scheme, the more symbols you use, the higher your power consumption must be (since your voltage necessarily increases). It's already tough to design 2 GHz processors with 1 V supplies, but imagine if we had to represent three values with that 1 V instead of two. Of course, the performance trade-off may be worth it (or you decrease the frequency to achieve the same power consumption and potentially similar performance).

BTW, this is unrelated to quantum computing and analog circuits IMO. The idea behind quantum computing is using qubits. Analog circuits use a continuum of voltages to represent a signal without quantization.

 

[degibson]

Non-binary machines died off because its a heckuva lot easier (e.g. noise margins and power), cheaper (e.g. power and fabrication), and faster (e.g. simpler devices are usually faster) to use two-valued logic.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: esun
Analog circuits use a continuum of voltages to represent a signal without quantization.

Unless you feed that analog signal into a ADC

 

[esun]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: esun
Analog circuits use a continuum of voltages to represent a signal without quantization.

Unless you feed that analog signal into a ADC

After which it's no longer analog.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: esun

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: esun
Analog circuits use a continuum of voltages to represent a signal without quantization.

Unless you feed that analog signal into a ADC

After which it's no longer analog.

But it solves the original question, which is why development of such a device has not been pursued.

transistors that could be off, on, partially off, partially on, etc. instead of 0v pulse and 5v pulse you could have more exact pulses in between and so on.