Comment on What has he done to deserve this?
roguetrick@lemmy.world 1 month agoIt’s the same number in different bases and our friend you replied to was pointing out that it was a mistake to adopt base10 measuring instead of throwing out base10 counting was a mistake. And he was right.
ramenshaman@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Ok, I reread their comment and I see what you’re getting at. Base 12 would be better in many cases but I just don’t see anybody switching anytime soon. We would pretty much have to start over. If people had 12 fingers we probably would have started on base 12 to begin with.
roguetrick@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Cultures that used base 12 counted on their knuckles with their thumb. 12 for each hand. Many common folk did that since you could count much higher if you counted by the dozen using both hands. Go from counting to 10 to finger counting to 12 dozen.
ramenshaman@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I wasn’t aware there are any cultures that use base 12, neat.
Bertuccio@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I mean… Western cultures? That’s why so many Western measuring systems are in base 12 and why we have special words for dozen and gross.
Base 10 being ubiquitous is fairly new and it replaced bases like 12 and 16 that were easier for people do track mentally.
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I mean, some people do have twelve fingers.