44 ms·
You want to switch time to base 10 and everything else to base 12 even though you consider it to be arbitrary? We use 12, 60 (and 360deg) because our fingers a
by scottmf 10y ago
You want to switch time to base 10 and everything else to base 12 even though you consider it to be arbitrary?
We use 12, 60 (and 360deg) because our fingers are divided into 12 sections on the palm side.
You can use your thumb to point to each section on your right hand, counting to 12, while using the number of fingers on your left hand to keep track of how many 12s (up to 5) hence base 60.
- grzm 10y agoThis sounds interesting, but I'm skeptical. 12, 60, and 360 have nice mathematical properties independent of human morphology. Do you have references to cite this?
- scottmf 10y agoThe articles I've read all seem to cite print books. The Wiki articles on finger counting, and duodecimal list some: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal
- grzm 10y agoThanks for the reference! Not convinced that this is the sole reason, but it is interesting nonetheless.
- Houshalter 10y agoI want to switch time to whatever base people use. If we switch to superior base 12, we should also switch to superior base 12 clocks.