Adrian Jadic wrote in USMA 17202: >On contrary, I believe it is the other way around! > >Since ancient times man used the dozen as a basis for many enumerations. >Since gods as well as the signs of the zodiac are man-made and not an >universal constant of some kind they come in "packs" of 12. >It took man a lot of time to develop mathematics well beyond counting eggs >and fruits in the market to realize that the 12 base system is limited and >that the 10-base is better. >By the way, this is also why the day is based on 12 hour cicles. The first >solar clocks were developed in ancient Egypt if I remember well. > >I really don't know the origines of the 12-base system but this appears to >me as the logical explanation to your observation.
The dozen was used in the market place because of its factorability. Arithmetic was usually developed base 10 because that is number of fingers and thumbs that we have; Since we no longer do arithmetic on our fingers, 12 would be a better choice of base. Unfortunately it would be prohibitively difficult now to change to base 12. But don't overlook base 8 or 16. I know of no case of arithmetic being done with base 12. Stephen Davis wrote in USMA 17195: >I just hope no imperialists have caught on to this!! Apparently, the number >12 represents the order of the universe!! Don't worry. The only ocurrance of 12 in the imperial mixture of units is 12 inches = 1 foot. Until 1971 there were 12 pennies in a shilling. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
