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I think ease of use is a learned thing.
I learned the decimal system in school but also use a duodecimal system at work. Most cases in our industry are packed in twelve or multiples of twelve. A gross is 144 – or, if you prefer, a dozen dozen.
When I first started in sales, and counted inventory of bottles at store level, it would be in multiples of twelve (as in, 2,4,6,8,10, ONE 2,4,6,8,10, TWO 2,4,6,8,10, THREE, and so on.) It was much quicker than counting in multiples of ten then having to divide. It wouldn't have been complicated to divide, but why do that when you can count in the correct multiple and get the correct count immediately.
EDIT: typo
Last edited by belMarduk; 03/14/06 08:06 PM.
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Quote:
The problem with that monetary system is not that it wsn't base ten; it's that it wasn't base anything consistent.
Four farthings to the penny.
Twelve pence to the shilling.
Twenty shillings to the pound.
Before laughing too much at the mote that used to be in someone else's eye, we should consider the some of the logs in our own, e.g.
3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
2 tablespoons in an ounce
8 ounces in a cup
2 cups in a pint
2 pints in a quart
4 quarts in a gallon
What's 17.5% of 3 quarts, 1 pint, 1 cup, 3 tbl, 2 tsp? Please answer in drams. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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> 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
no wonder my pancakes don't turn out...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Quote:
3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
2 tablespoons in an ounce
8 ounces in a cup
2 cups in a pint
2 pints in a quart
4 quarts in a gallon
... and thus I find myself every year bringing my baffled students a cup measure, to convince them that a "cup" is not just any ole cup they might have lying around their houses...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
... and thus I find myself every year bringing my baffled students a cup measure, to convince them that a "cup" is not just any ole cup they might have lying around their houses...
Is there no equivalent in Spain, Marianna? In Brazil we had tea cup (xícara de chá) and coffee cup (xícara de café) for cup and quarter-cup.
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What's 17.5% of 3 quarts, 1 pint, 1 cup, 3 tbl, 2 tsp? Please answer in drams.
What base would that 17.5 percent be in?
TEd
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Pooh-Bah
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tsu: Thank you for that link. I have fwded it to my No. 1 Son who will appreciate it as he's into that sort of thing
Last edited by dalehileman; 03/14/06 11:59 PM.
dalehileman
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Quote:
tsu: Thank you for that link. I have fwded it to my No. 1 Son who will appreciate it as he's into that sort of thing
please pass along also the ironic intent of that post.
(for those who suffer from irony deafness*, the point perhaps being that you could take any number between, e.g., 3 and 57 and develop a similar thesis.)
*this link brought to you by the TTCAAC** committee***
**Those That Celebrate Anu's Aniversaries Committee
***I know, I know...
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formerly known as etaoin...
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