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Joined: Aug 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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One way to derive a base twelve system from finger counting is to count on the knuckles. base 14 if you include the thumb
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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When I'm finger-counting base twelve I use the thumb as the counter. It's done on the outside of the hand and starts with the thumb on the tip of the index finger for one, to the first knuckle for two to the second knuckle for three, to the tip of the middle finger for four, etc. When I finger-count base sixteen I start with the thumb on the tip of the little for one, the distal knuckle, palm side, for two, the pendistal knuckle for three, the base of the finger for four, the tip of the ring finger for five, etc. I won't bore you with finger-counting base forty-eight; I never do it anyway, except to show that it can be done.
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Joined: Oct 2005
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addict
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addict
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I use the chisanbop system to count on my fingers up to 99. I've seen demonstrations of children doing multiplication and division using it, but I haven't taken the time to learn it. Non-cartoon rabbits have 5 digits ( Watership Down's numbering system - 5 or greater = thousands (hrair) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two ). I assume that like other canines, foxes have 4 toes and a dew claw.
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I just take my shoes off if it gets above 10. edited cos I started to think about this some more. Actually that is a cool way to count but do you have different words for the numbers? (serious question) Base 10 actually has words for one thru twelve but betrays its baseness with thirteen (three +ten) and up. What do you call twelve +one in base twelve? The next major change in base 10 would be 20 (2x10). The equivalent whether written as twenty-four or 24 is by the notation/name linked back to base 10. In order to work in base anything-other-than-ten do people use other names to keep it straight? Or does anyone other than Hal work in other bases?
Last edited by Zed; 03/11/08 12:40 AM.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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>Or does anyone other than Hal work in other bases?
people who work *with Hal use base two, eight, and sixteen. two and eight are simplistic (base two : 1,10 and eight = 1-7,10) base sixteen took rather more imagination : 1-9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10
I don't know about 'speaking' base twelve, it doesn't seem very practical.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
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>Or does anyone other than Hal work in other bases?
Did you mean H.A.L. 9000?
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old hand
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old hand
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I don't know about 'speaking' base twelve, it doesn't seem very practical.
It ain't practical unless you got Six fingers, lima oscar lima. However hexadecimal has an older more universal appeal.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It ain't practical unless you got Six fingers, lima oscar lima. However hexadecimal has an older more universal appeal.
When I'm finger-counting base twelve I use the thumb as the counter. It's done on the outside of the hand and starts with the thumb on the tip of the index finger for one, to the first knuckle for two to the second knuckle for three, to the tip of the middle finger for four, etc. I still don't do it very much. Naming would be simple enough if I did: 1 one 2 two 3 three 4 four 5 five 6 six 7 seven 8 eight 9 nine A ten B eleven 10 onety 11 onety-one 12 onety-two . . . A0 tenty A1 tenty-one . . . B0 eleventy B1 eleventy-one . . . BB eleventy-eleven . . . I'm more likely to count base sixteen, though. I do it whenever the local County Legislature has a vote in one of their meetings. It takes eight ayes to pass a measure, regardless of how many are attending the meeting and that comes out to reaching the tip of my ring finger. I use the right hand for ayes and the left hand for nays.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It ain't practical unless you got Six fingers
Many cultures move past counting on their fingers. The Sumerians (and later the Babylonians) and the Maya had non-decimal numeric systems The former used base-60 (sexagesimal) and the latter base-20 (vigesmal).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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old hand
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What's the evidence that the Sumerians and Babylonians used base 60 for ordinary counting? Is that true or just conjecture based on things like their calendars etc?
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