Computer science of the future
In a parallel universe computers are designed to run on a base 3 system with digits +1, 0 and -1. A current going in one direction means +1, represented as "+", while a current going in the opposite direction means -1, represented as "-". No current at all means the digit 0.
The base 2 system like ours was tried there too, but rejected right at the start as requiring too much wiring and too much code to handle the problems of negative numbers. Their base 3 system includes negative numbers automatically. For example, four is "++" while -4 is "--". Two is "+-" and -2 is "-+". No problem.
Addition rules are easy too. Adding "+" and a "+" gives you "+-", adding "-" and "-" produces "-+". It goes on, and it is a lot if fun. However, our question is:
Is +-++0-0+++-00+-- odd of even?
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1 solution
Divisibility by 2 in a base 3 is easy. Two is one less than the base, so all we have to do is add the digits and see if the sum, which in this case is 2 (or "+-") is divisible by 2. The digits being negative does not change the reasoning.