q-ary

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q-ary (q-valued) Having q values, where q is a positive integer not less than 2. In logic circuits, the treatment of q values is called multivalued logic, or binary logic for q = 2. In coding theory, some codes are restricted to the binary case; others can operate with arbitrary q or with q a prime number. Throughout switching and coding theory, the binary case is by far the most important. See also polynomial.

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