Re: [math-fun] A ternary notation

It's quite common in computer arithmetic units to "recode" a base-2 number using _three_ digits: +1, 0, -1. Thus, although the number is still in base 2, this "balanced" representation has much better rounding behavior, since ignoring the lower order digits always gives the correctly rounded value. Multiplier hardware, in particular, likes this representation. There's been a huge amount of research into various number systems & representations for computer arithmetic, which research continues to this day. Here's a start: http://arith.stanford.edu/