On Thu, 9 Mar 2017 15:18:03 -0600, Joel C. Ewing wrote:
>I think it's much more fundamental than that. At least in Western
>civilizations our methods of numeric notation are essentially
>"big-endian": we write numbers from left to right, most significant
>digits first, and if one were asked to count the number of symbols
>written down, most would instinctively count from left to right as well,
>like the standard orientation of the positive x direction in Cartesian
>coordinates. That corresponds to the concept of regarding higher memory
>addresses as proceeding to the right.
>
It's cultural. Consider how Europeans write dates.
https://xkcd.com/1179/
And significance is subjective. About 10 years ago, I asked an astronomer,
"When is the equinox on Saturn?"
"Nine fourteen." (orally)
September 14th seemed too soon until I pondered and realized she
meant, "September, 2014."
In Boulder, CO, in the '60s (some century), all local phone numbers
were (303)442-xxx or (303)443-xxxx. People routinely exchanged
phone numbers (orally) by only the last 5 digits. The first 5 were,
if not insignificant, inconsequential.
Computer science professor W.M. Waite used to say, "Top of
memory," pointing to the floor, and "Bottom of memory",
pointing to the ceiling.
-- gil
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