James G. Sack (jim) wrote:
Clearly, each hand has 4 binary digits ("bits") and of course, a carry
flag (sometimes called half-carry, or even "thumb"). Other names for
hand, used in various technical disciplines, are "half-adder" or "nibble".
What a coincidence. Just yesterday I was reading this tutorial on how to
do binary arithmetic with your fingers:
http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/10/who_needs_a_calculator_multipl.php
By pressing other appendages into service, one may further extend the
counting limit to FFFF (65535, decimal). There seems to some
Like approximately half of the population I can go as high as 131072 if
I am calculating in private. Such high calculations are rarely finished
due to the computer getting distracted.
P.S. Does anyone know for sure whether the story about the 3-fingered
electronics tech who built the PDP-7 prototype is true? I mean, is that
really why octal snuck into the original Bell Labs software?
Interesting. One of the first things I noticed when I started flying was
that on an aircraft transponder you set the transponder code using 4
digits each between 0 and 7. Yes, it is octal. Standard VFR code is
1200, emergency is 7700, etc. Montgomery tower often assigns a
transponder code of 0400.
--
Tracy R Reed http://ultraviolet.org
A: Because we read from top to bottom, left to right
Q: Why should I start my reply below the quoted text
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
