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Fas doesn't appear to be base-2 number system in that it's not a positional number system. "Base" refers to the base of a positional number system. It's an una
by ithkuil 4y ago
Fas doesn't appear to be base-2 number system in that it's not a positional number system. "Base" refers to the base of a positional number system.
It's an unary system, where one quantity is grouped (2) like in a sign-value system but also used when speaking and not just in symbolic notation.
It's like if our 10-centric languages we'd say thirty five as "ten ten ten five".
In fas you'd say thirty five as "two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two one"
- tobbe2064 4y agoIts a bit surprising that none seems to have invented base 2. It should be the most expressive way to count using fingers since it allows 32 number to be expressed with a single hand and 1024 numbers with two hands. But I guess that would be overengineering and annoying for most early cultures.
- ithkuil 4y agoIn 2nd century BC, the the indian scholar Pingala wrote Chandaḥśāstra where he developed a positional little endian (least significant digit on the left) base-2 system using a sanskrit short syllable for 0 and long syllable for one