5 ms·
Base-10 isn't the only thing cultures around the world came up with. I vaguely recollect that a handful used base-5, base-6 (spaces between knuckles plus each s
by ddebernardy 12y ago
Base-10 isn't the only thing cultures around the world came up with. I vaguely recollect that a handful used base-5, base-6 (spaces between knuckles plus each side), base-12 (with two hands) and base 20 (two hands, two feet; or two sides for each finger) -- and probably others I forgot. We still use base 60 (which we inherited from babylonians, and are still using to count time and angles). As well as base-2, base-8 and base-16 in computer science.
Whether we stick to base-10 or collectively decide to use something saner in the future (base-12? base-60?) is anyone's guess, but methinks inertia will spell doom to efforts to part from it, much like efforts to bring sanity to the calendar never took off in the 19th century.
This much is probably sure, though: we won't go back to colorful subdivisions. Nobody except the US (and Liberia) uses anything but the metric system nowadays.
- aflinik 12y agoI wouldn't say we use base-60 for time or angles. We still use just 10 digits to write them down, so it's still in base-10.
- sp332 12y agoIt's definitely base-60. Carrying from one place to the next happens on powers of 60, even if you write the value of each place with base-10 numbers. And if you have an analog clock, you don't need base 10 at all.
- pdpi 12y agoBase 5, base 6, base whatever are not in way fundamentally different from base 10 (as a piece of curio: every base is "base 10" when you refer to it from within itself). They're all the same straightforward positional system and you just change how high you'll count before rolling over.