I often wonder if there is some notion of a basis of computation in mathematics. You can do stuff in binary, trinary, what about further out systems? What about working with functions/mappings which take more than two inputs. What can be said about the expressive power of these different ways of computing? Any one know where I should be looking for this kind of stuff?
If you are interested in "functions/mappings" then you can look at Lambda Calculus and work your way right up to modern functional programming languages:
I'm reasonably well versed in these topics, I found them unsatisfying, they don't capture the essence for me. I don't really know what I'm looking for I just know I haven't seen it yet.
Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, vol 2 [1], not surprisingly, gives a thorough discussion of the balanced ternary system.
The solution for a nice brainteaser can be found quickly once one thinks about balanced trinary, here it is: "Using a balance scale, what is the minimum number of wheights needed to weigh any whole number of grams up to 40g?"
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If you are interested in "functions/mappings" then you can look at Lambda Calculus and work your way right up to modern functional programming languages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus
The solution for a nice brainteaser can be found quickly once one thinks about balanced trinary, here it is: "Using a balance scale, what is the minimum number of wheights needed to weigh any whole number of grams up to 40g?"
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Volume-Seminu...