5 ms·
A couple of Native American tribes used octal because base 8 works for the number of things you can carry between the fingers. Would have made computing a bit
by protomyth 9y ago
A couple of Native American tribes used octal because base 8 works for the number of things you can carry between the fingers. Would have made computing a bit simpler if that had been adopted instead of base 10.
- agumonkey 9y agoGotta say, I'd never have thought about space between fingers as the motivation for a base. We must investigate lobsters.
- kowdermeister 9y agoThat's also the explanation for base 60
- fishnchips 9y agoOh wow, I didn't know that. Reminds me of the Aborigines who looked for shapes and figures in the empty space between the stars as opposed to our own ancients who'd rather 'connect the dots'.
- cr0sh 9y agoNegative space astronomy - interesting...