Ternary (from Latin ''ternarius'') or trinary is an adjective meaning "composed of

three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

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'' m ...

, 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 indeterminat ...

, 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 equ ...

or ternary graph, a plot that shows the ratios of three proportions *

Ternary relation In mathematics, a ternary relation or triadic relation is a finitary relation in which the number of places in the relation is three. Ternary relations may also be referred to as 3-adic, 3-ary, 3-dimensional, or 3-place. Just as a binary relat ...

, 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 operator i ...

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

Computing

Ternary signal In telecommunication, a ternary signal is a signal that can assume, at any given instant, one of three states or significant conditions, such as power level, phase position, pulse duration, or frequency. Examples of ternary signals are (a) a puls ...

, 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 : In computer science, a ternary tree is a tree data structure in which each node has at most three child nodes, usually distinguished as "left", “mid” and "right". Nodes with children are parent nodes, and child nodes may contain references ...

, 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 ternary search algorithm is a technique in computer science for finding the minimum or maximum of a unimodal function. A ternary search determines either that the minimum or maximum cannot be in the first third of the domain or that it cannot be ...

, a computer science technique for finding the minimum or maximum of a function *

Ternary heap 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 base-3 counting system ** Balanced ternary, a positional numeral system, useful ...

, 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 distan ...

, 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 inclu ...

, a form used for structuring music *

Ternary name In biology, trinomial nomenclature refers to names for taxa below the rank of species. These names have three parts. The usage is different in zoology and botany. In zoology In zoological nomenclature, a trinomen (), trinominal name, or ternary ...

for any taxon below the rank of species

Mathematics and logic

Computing

Other uses

See also