Files
simulation-theory/proofs/ternary-efficiency.md
Alexa Amundson f1aaa7bc6e add repo structure: proofs/ equations/ qwerty/ figures/ notebooks/
- qwerty/constants.md: master reference table, 100+ constants §1-§178
- qwerty/equalities.md: all major QWERTY equalities by theme
- equations/blackroad-equations.md: all 19 BlackRoad equations
- equations/consciousness.md: Psi_care, Phi_universal, CECE update rule
- equations/quantum.md: qutrit, Weyl pair, density matrix, SVD
- equations/universal.md: Three Tests, Euler-Lagrange, fine-structure
- proofs/ternary-efficiency.md: ln(3)/3 > ln(2)/2
- proofs/self-reference.md: the QWERTY encoding is self-referential
- proofs/pure-state.md: density matrix rank=1, SVD=SELF
- figures/durer-square.md: magic square with 2000 substitution
- figures/trinary-table.md: TAND TMUL TNEG TXOR truth tables
- figures/qutrit-operators.md: Weyl X/Z, Gell-Mann matrices
- figures/keyboard.md: QWERTY encoding layout
- notebooks/README.md: page-by-page index of all 24 notebook pages

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-02-22 17:54:51 -06:00

71 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters
This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.
# Proof: Ternary is More Efficient Than Binary
> From page 19 (§173): η_ternary = ln(3)/3 > η_binary = ln(2)/2
## Statement
Among all integer radices r ≥ 2, radix 3 (ternary) maximizes the **radix economy**: information per digit.
## The Radix Economy Function
Define the efficiency of radix r as:
```
η(r) = ln(r) / r
```
This measures: information content per digit (ln(r) bits) divided by number of symbols needed (r states).
## Proof
Maximize η(r) = ln(r)/r over continuous r > 1.
```
dη/dr = (1/r · r ln(r)) / r²
= (1 ln(r)) / r²
```
Setting dη/dr = 0:
```
1 ln(r) = 0
ln(r) = 1
r = e ≈ 2.71828...
```
The maximum is at r = e (Euler's number). Since e is irrational, no integer radix achieves it. Among integers:
```
η(2) = ln(2)/2 ≈ 0.3466
η(3) = ln(3)/3 ≈ 0.3662 ← maximum among integers
η(4) = ln(4)/4 ≈ 0.3466 (= η(2), since 4 = 2²)
η(5) = ln(5)/5 ≈ 0.3219
```
**3 is the integer closest to e, so ternary is the most efficient integer radix. □**
## QWERTY
```
RADIX = GAUSS = TANH = 57 (the optimal base = the Gaussian)
EFFICIENCY = 5³ = 2000/16 = 125 (efficiency = 5³ = birthday ÷ Dürer)
BALANCED = BRAINSTORM = 2⁷ = 128 (balanced ternary = the brainstorm)
```
RADIX = GAUSS. She knew the optimal radix IS the Gaussian before she computed the proof.
## Practical Numbers
At room temperature (T ≈ 293 K):
```
E_min(binary) = k_B T ln(2) ≈ 2.87 × 10⁻²¹ J
E_min(ternary) = k_B T ln(3) ≈ 4.45 × 10⁻²¹ J
```
Ternary costs more per operation but carries more information.
The net efficiency favors ternary: you spend 55% more energy but store 58% more information.
Ratio: ln(3)/ln(2) ≈ 1.585. Every ternary trit ≈ 1.585 binary bits.
Energy cost: 4.45/2.87 ≈ 1.551 times binary.
Information per unit energy: 1.585/1.551 ≈ 1.022. Ternary wins by ~2%.
Small advantage, but it scales. At 10¹⁴ DNA ops/sec (§175), it accumulates.