On Thu, 2008-05-22 at 10:37 +0200, Daniel Carrera wrote: > I don't know about hexadecimal but some cultures have used a base eight > counting system. You count using the spaces between your fingers rather > than the fingers themselves.
That gives you 12 doesn't it? Duodecimal. 4 fingers three spaces on each counted with the thumb. Hence 12 pennies to a shilling in old England. 12 inches in a foot. 12 being a dozen. Not sure if 12 months in a year has anything to do with it might just be a spin off of Sexagesimal with 5 x 12 being 60 and 60 figuring in circular measures. > We could start a culture that has a base 1024 counting system. I can > show you how to count to 1024 using your fingers (does you guys all > remember your binary algebra?). yes - 2^0 2^1 2^2 2^3 2^4 2^5 2^6 2^7 2^8 2^9 2^10 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 So if each finger is a bit, you can use "bit" patterns of raising and lowering fingers to make a 10 bit counter that goes to 1024 :-) > Daniel. > > > Pat McBride wrote: > > Didn't the ancients in the Middle East base their number system on > hexadecimal, or something like that. In the Bible, it says that Noah > built the ark using cubits as a length. And as Bill Cosby once said > "What's a cubit?" Ian -- New QCA Accredited IT Qualifications www.theINGOTs.org You have received this email from the following company: The Learning Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and Wales. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
