Quaternary is the base-4 numeral system. It uses the digits 0, 1, 2 and 3 to represent any real number.
| quaternary (base 4) | ternary (base 3) | quaternary (base 4) | ternary (base 3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | = 1 | 23 | = 102 |
| 2 | = 2 | 30 | = 110 |
| 3 | = 10 | 31 | = 111 |
| 10 | = 11 | 32 | = 112 |
| 11 | = 12 | 33 | = 120 |
| 12 | = 20 | 100 | = 121 |
| 13 | = 21 | 101 | = 122 |
| 20 | = 22 | 102 | = 200 |
| 21 | = 100 | 103 | = 201 |
| 22 | = 101 | 110 | = 202 |
The ternary numeral system (also called base-3) has three as its base. Analogous to a bit, a ternary digit is a trit (trinary digit). One trit is equivalent to log23 (about 1.58496) bits of information.
| ternary (base 3) | quaternary (base 4) | ternary (base 3) | quaternary (base 4) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ≈ 1 | 102 | ≈ 23 |
| 2 | ≈ 2 | 110 | ≈ 30 |
| 10 | ≈ 3 | 111 | ≈ 31 |
| 11 | ≈ 10 | 112 | ≈ 32 |
| 12 | ≈ 11 | 120 | ≈ 33 |
| 20 | ≈ 12 | 121 | ≈ 100 |
| 21 | ≈ 13 | 122 | ≈ 101 |
| 22 | ≈ 20 | 200 | ≈ 102 |
| 100 | ≈ 21 | 201 | ≈ 103 |
| 101 | ≈ 22 | 202 | ≈ 110 |
| quaternary (base 4) | ternary (base 3) |
|---|---|
| 1 | = 1 |
| 2 | = 2 |
| 3 | = 10 |
| 10 | = 11 |
| 11 | = 12 |
| 12 | = 20 |
| 13 | = 21 |
| 20 | = 22 |
| 21 | = 100 |
| 22 | = 101 |