I agree. My concerns are not really about the contrived usage of only 2 buckets and decimal numbers. This may give a picture to start with. But, this is a pit

I agree. My concerns are not really about the contrived usage of only 2 buckets and decimal numbers. This may give a picture to start with. But, this is a pity to elude how the final cardinal estimate is computed. And this is shame to publish a gist so sloppy : all key points are buggy (bucket assignation, count of leading zeros, final outcome). I started my day with "Oh fine, a post witch may help me to understand quickly how hyperloglog works" but I was so confused after that reading, that I forced me to dive into the paper and a high quality code (redis implementation) to leave with a better understanding and no more false assumptions. This may be ok to simplify an algorithm to help people to grasp it. But at least, as an author, we have to give a true insight.