Engineering aspects of multi-valued logic systems

Abstract

We live in a binary world of computers, accepting the inevitability of dealing with strings of O's and l's, simply because this is dictated by the two-valued nature of switching primitives which make up the machines. Yet there is little doubt that most of us would prefer decimal machines if they were available. Present technology is unlikely to result in such machines in the near future, at least not the kind where basic building blocks are inherently 10-valued. However, this does not mean that the binary approach must continue to be the only alternative. Considerable advantages may be gained by considering higher-radix systems, even if decimal schemes are presently out of reach.