Balanced ternary is a base-3 number system that uses -, 0, and 1 instead of 0, 1, and 2. Here, - means –1, so the digits are balanced around zero.
This makes it possible to represent both positive and negative numbers without using a minus sign in front. For example:
10- = 1x9 + 0x3 + -1x1 = 8
It’s cleaner and more symmetrical than normal ternary, and some early computers even used it because of how neatly it handles negative values.
