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As a layman, thank you for this write-up! And I share your longing for a dozenal base system.
by prometheus76 4y ago
As a layman, thank you for this write-up! And I share your longing for a dozenal base system.
- jacknews 4y agoseximal is um, sexier, IMHO. Times-table is very compact, and it's a natural fit for hand-counting up to 2 digits - 1's on one hand, 6's on the other, so you can count up to 35 (base 10) on two hands not just 10. And IMHO to avoid confusion with decimal, alternate bases need completely different glyphs to represent the digits, and completely different naming. Fewer digits makes that easier.
- ravi-delia 4y agoYou can actually count to twelve on one hand by using knuckles. There aren't any cultures which are base 12 today, but there are cultures which count to 12 a hand and were in base 12 back in the day, giving us our 24 hour days. Seximal is IMO the sad middle child of the bases. Sure it's small, but if I wanted small I'd stick with binary. Oh, the expansion is too large? Ternary has the best radix economy. If you're gonna have a number system divisible only by two numbers, you might as well stick with base 10!
- prometheus76 4y agoYou can also count to twelve on one hand by counting the segments of your digits by pointing to them with your thumb. (Thumb points at one of the three segments of a digit on each digit).
- ravi-delia 4y agoThat's actually the one I was talking about, though yeah I guess you could use the actual knuckles too. But yeah, the segments are what I learned as a kid.
- jacknews 4y agoThink of the keyboard though. Duodecimal needs an extra 2 keys, 12 in all just for the digits. Seximal can do it with six; easily managed with just one hand on a home row.