4 ms·

This is a very interesting way to get around the problem. We could just work in base5, ( or lower) and mathematics would still make sense!

• pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  One of the very first things in maths I taught my kids -- after they could count to 20 -- was binary ("robot numbers!") and from there alternate number bases [stuck well with the first, not so well with second, not at that point with any others]. Think that came from the same place as "what if there's no 6". I took the approach of how aliens would count if they didn't have "enough" fingers.
  • gfredtech 9y ago
    Someone told me that once; perhaps the reason we naturally count in base 10 is because we have 10 fingers. If there was no six, I also think that we'd be counting in base 5
• Xophmeister 9y ago
  6 still "exists" in base 5, it's just that it equals...ahem...is congruent to 10.
  • vinchuco 9y ago
    So take it out, you end up with a set of previously-numbers objects you can't do much with. The question is answered.
  • fjsolwmv 9y ago
    11