this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
1175 points (97.6% liked)

Science Memes

9997 readers
2365 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1175
Every base is base 10 (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
194 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 108 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (65 children)

Can we all use base 12?

It will be a shower of shit for like 50 years but then it will be marginally better for pretty much everyone.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Why base 12 though? Base 16 is even better. And base 60 is even better than that!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Common denominators. You can divide base 12 into half, thirds, fourths, and sixths and still use integers. I find thirds to be particularly useful, so base 16 is out. Base 60 can do it, but that's getting unweildly.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

There are no common denominators in base 12 that you can't use in base 84, and the latter also has 7 as a common denominator.

I, for one, vote for changing our base to 84.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Can't do base 12 on fingers. I prefer base 8.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You can do base 12 on fingers! You count each of the 3 segments on each finger and ignore the thumb (you can use it to keep your place), so you can count up to 12 on just one hand! :)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This is why I'm not totally sold on the idea that we use base 10 because we have 10 fingers. There are a lot of ways to count with your fingers. Plus, there are many cultures throughout human history that use something else. Base 10 in modern times might just be a historical quirk.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Some societies used base 27 from counting body parts. Sumeria famously used base 60. It’s why minutes and hours are divided by 60

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

iirc, the reason that time is base 60 is because some ancient peoples figured out how to count to 60 on their fingers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I can count to 1023 using both hands but only to 31 using one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

8 fingered Johnny...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Base 6. One hand and a arm. Let's me get all the way to 41.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Just add left arm, right arm to it or, if you're a guy nose and dick.

Certainly, especially the male version, it would make the visual act of counting far more funny to watch.

I think I'm starting to warm up to the whole base 12 idea...

[–] RVGamer06 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Base 69?

load more comments (62 replies)