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by mrob 2472 days ago
>From an information theory perspective, holding two states is the most efficient way of computing.

Assuming the cost of operations on each digit is a multiple of its number of states, the most efficient base for computing with arbitrary numbers is 3, which is the closest integer to the optimal base e:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_economy

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

1 comments

Yes, you are correct. I said it all wrong.

From a physical perspective, holding two states is the most efficient way of computing. I.e. the electronics required to compute in bases other than 2 involve higher power and present difficult challenges.