3 ms·
(And then there is the Sexagesimal Society. We don't talk about the Sexagesimal Society.)
by xg15 10mo ago
(And then there is the Sexagesimal Society. We don't talk about the Sexagesimal Society.)
- adrian_b 10mo agoYes, bases 12 or 6 bring only a negligible improvement over base 10, which is entirely due to the fraction 1/3 being more frequently encountered in practice than the fraction 1/5. When the exact representation of frequently used rational numbers is irrelevant, base 2 has no competition. If you want to represent exactly more rational numbers than with bases 2 or 10, than either base 30 shall be used (= 2 * 3 * 5) or bases that are multiples of 30, like the traditional 60 or like 240, which fits well in a byte.