5 ms·
Counting in base 12 is much better than base 10. 12 has prime factors {2,2,3}, so you get 2,3,4 and 6 as integer divisors, not just 2 and 5. That's why dozens s
by sergiosgc 12y ago
Counting in base 12 is much better than base 10. 12 has prime factors {2,2,3}, so you get 2,3,4 and 6 as integer divisors, not just 2 and 5. That's why dozens stuck as a counting unit on so many things, namely time (all the way back from Egyptians).
You can even count using your fingers. Just count using your thumb pointing at each of the finger joints and the finger tip (you have two joints and one tip per finger and four fingers excluding the thumb). Actually, that's how Egyptians counted and that's why you get 12 hours in the realm of day and 12 hours in the realm of night.
The only drawback is multiplication tables. If I tend to forget the multiplication table for 7 and 8, memorizing tables for 11 and 12 would be nightmarish :-)
P.S. This is obviously tongue-in-cheek. While it may be marginally better, switching costs mean the optimal course of action is to stay at the local maximum and avoid switching.
- transfire 12y agoI've done some extensive analysis of number systems (almost enough to write a book on the subject) and come to the conclusion that the best are senary (6) and quaternary (4). Six has all the benefits of twelve, save the extra divisor of 2 (and thus 4), but that is easily remedied by use of the square (36) when required. Quaternary may seem an odd choice, but the square is 16, so one naturally learns hexadecimal without doing hardly any extra work --you just pair up the digits. If your curious, duodecimal and octal come in after these and decimal falls to fifth place, which is fitting since its main advantage is divisibility by 5. :-)
- jessaustin 12y agoSince you haven't written your book yet, are there any others you can recommend on this topic?
- MichaelGG 12y agoInteresting. I always thought base 16 was the only suitable number system. Base 2 is the only justifiable one, since base 1 is not much fun. Squaring base 2 twice to get a fair amount of information in a single column seems to just make sense. What are the downsides of 16?
- ars 12y agoBalanced ternary is superior to them all. http://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/sjmiller/public_html/105Sp10/addcomments/Hayes_ThirdBase.htm http://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/sjmiller/public_html/105...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]