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 3 (number), three as its radix, base. Analogous to a bit, a ternary numerical digit, digit is a trit (trinary digit). One trit is equivalent to binary logarithm, log2 3 (about 1.5 ...

, a base-3 counting system **

Balanced ternary Balanced ternary is a ternary numeral system (i.e. base 3 with three Numerical digit, 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 stand ...

, 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 third value ...

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

Ternary plot A ternary plot, ternary graph, triangle plot, simplex plot, or Gibbs triangle 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 equilateral triangle. ...

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 relatio ...

, 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 In telecommunications, 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 p ...

, 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. Ternary computers use trits, instead of binary bits. Types of states ...

, 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 reference ...

, 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. Li ...

, 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. The function Assume we are looking for a maximum of f(x) and that we know the maximum lies somewhere between A and B. Fo ...

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

Ternary heap The -ary heap or -heap is a priority queue data structure, a generalization of the binary heap in which the nodes have children instead of 2. Thus, a binary heap is a 2-heap, and a ternary heap is a 3-heap. According to Tarjan and Jensen et al., - ...

, 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, such as a ...

, 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 is the system of 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 ...

for any taxon below the rank of species

Mathematics and logic

Computing

Other uses

See also