3 ms·
> Number bases are arbitrary. You could do it that way if you didn't care at all for how people actually use the system or what they would prefer; however, i
by timewizard 1y ago
> Number bases are arbitrary.
You could do it that way if you didn't care at all for how people actually use the system or what they would prefer; however, it's just your decision that's arbitrary, not the actual choice of "best base for worldwide everyday use."
> 1/4 being 0.3 in base 12
And 5/6ths is 0.A in hexadecimal base 12. The choice of a base should imply a choice of alphabet. For something like base 12 you may actually want to rediscover or invent new numeral characters.
> but at this point the convention is base-10
Except for time. Which appears constantly in physical units.
> b) getting used over the old units.
Even then. No one will tell you the sun is "93 Gm" from Earth. It's always 93 million km. They haven't exactly gotten into the new system just yet. They've just swapped base units.