Ternary (from Latin ''ternarius'') or trinary is an adjective meaning "composed of three items". It can refer to:

Mathematics and logic

Ternary numeral system A ternary numeral system (also called base 3 or trinary) has three as its base. Analogous to a bit, a ternary digit is a trit (trinary digit). One trit is equivalent to log2 3 (about 1.58496) bits of information. Although ''ternary'' mo ...

, a base-3 counting system **

Balanced ternary Balanced ternary is a ternary numeral system (i.e. base 3 with three digits) that uses a balanced signed-digit representation of the integers in which the digits have the values −1, 0, and 1. This stands in contrast to the standard (unbalanc ...

, a positional numeral system, useful for comparison logic *

Ternary logic In logic, a three-valued logic (also trinary logic, trivalent, ternary, or trilean, sometimes abbreviated 3VL) is any of several many-valued logic systems in which there are three truth values indicating ''true'', ''false'' and some indeterminate ...

, a logic system with the values ''true'', ''false'', and some other value *

Ternary plot A ternary plot, ternary graph, triangle plot, simplex plot, Gibbs triangle or de Finetti diagram is a barycentric plot on three variables which sum to a constant. It graphically depicts the ratios of the three variables as positions in an equil ...

or ternary graph, a plot that shows the ratios of three proportions * Ternary relation, a finitary relation in which the number of places in the relation is three *

Ternary operation In mathematics, a ternary operation is an ''n''- ary operation with ''n'' = 3. A ternary operation on a set ''A'' takes any given three elements of ''A'' and combines them to form a single element of ''A''. In computer science, a ternary operato ...

, an operation that takes three parameters * Ternary function, a function that takes three arguments

Computing

* Ternary signal, a signal that can assume three significant values *

Ternary computer A ternary computer, also called trinary computer, is one that uses ternary logic (i.e., base 3) instead of the more common binary system (i.e., base 2) in its calculations. This means it uses trits (instead of bits, as most computers do). Ty ...

, a computer using a ternary numeral system * Ternary tree, a tree data structure in computer science **

Ternary search tree In computer science, a ternary search tree is a type of trie (sometimes called a ''prefix tree'') where nodes are arranged in a manner similar to a binary search tree, but with up to three children rather than the binary tree's limit of two. Lik ...

, a ternary (three-way) tree data structure of strings * Ternary search, a computer science technique for finding the minimum or maximum of a function * Ternary heap, a data structure in computer science *

Ternary Golay code In coding theory, the ternary Golay codes are two closely related error-correcting codes. The code generally known simply as the ternary Golay code is an 1, 6, 53-code, that is, it is a linear code over a ternary alphabet; the relative distance ...

, a perfect 1, 6, 5ternary linear code * ?:, a ternary conditional operator used for basic conditional expressions in several programming languages

Other uses

Ternary complex A ternary complex is a protein complex containing three different molecules that are bound together. In structural biology, ''ternary complex'' can also be used to describe a crystal containing a protein with two small molecules bound, for example ...

, a complex formed by the interaction of three molecules *

Ternary compound In inorganic chemistry and materials chemistry, a ternary compound or ternary phase is a chemical compound containing three different elements. While some ternary compounds are molecular, ''e.g.'' chloroform (), more typically ternary phases r ...

, a type of chemical compound *

Ternary form Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples includ ...

, a form used for structuring music * Ternary name for any taxon below the rank of species

Mathematics and logic

Computing

Other uses

See also