In the beginning - there were computers based on base-10 logic and also on base-3 logic. The trouble with doing that - and the reason we don’t do it these days - lies at the lowest possible level of the underlying electronics. Suppose you have a wire and a flashlight bulb and you connect a 1.5 volt battery to it so the voltage jumps from 0 volts (no battery) to 1.5 volts (powered by the battery). The voltage doesn’t actually jump instantaneously from one to the other. It climbs gradually from 0 to 1.5 volts over some very small fraction of a second. So at some point, the voltage will be (say) 0.4 volts - or 0.7 volts - before it finally settles on 1.5 volts. Also - if the wire is long enough - and has some resistance to it - the voltage won’t ever reach 1.5 volts - it’ll top out at (say) 1.2 volts or something. Now - consider if you have a base-10 computer - and just one digit travels from A to B along a wire. If the computer is running at 1.5 volts then maybe we u...
Imagine you have the opportunity of a lifetime to win one million dollars in a golf tournament. These are the rules: 1. You have one chance to get one golf ball inside a par-4 hole. 2. You have four shots to get the ball inside the hole of an average par-4 hole on an average golf course. Not a super difficult task to achieve. 3. You have only 48 hours to prepare for the event. 4. No special prequalifications as a golf player are required. 5. If you complete the hole in four shots or less, you will win $1 million dollars. 6. If you shoot five or more, you finish above par and you lose the chance to win. What would you do? Stop and think for a moment… How would you spend those 48 hours previous to the event? Pause and think… be honest. … … … Would you spend your time practicing all day long? … … … This is what a millionair...