> Mangarevans combined base-10 representation with a binary system. They had number words for 1 to 10, and then for 10 multiplied by several powers of 2 Becaus

> Mangarevans combined base-10 representation with a binary system. They had number words for 1 to 10, and then for 10 multiplied by several powers of 2 Because base-10 seems to originate from two handfuls of fingers, I wonder why they didn't end up with a base-5 representation with a binary system? > takau (K) means 10; paua (P) means 20; tataua (T) is 40; and varu (V) stands for 80 By using their numeral for five (say, F) to mean 5 in this scheme, they could have gotten rid of their numerals for 6 to 9. So 157 would be VTPKF2 instead of VTPK7.