Hi Marcus
The advantage of DECIMAL system is these things.
1. For a very long time (1000's of years), we
have been using the words like
ten, hundred, thousand, etc in our casual talk.
Duodecimal system ignores these numbers and
instead goes by multiples of 12.
2. Decimals are easier to use, since they involve
1 number, while fractions use 2 numbers
I guess duodecimal system goes by fractions.
May be 1 day, man can tweak the DNA to give
12 fingers in the human hands, but still we
will hold up with the decimal system.
But the real threat is the hexadecimal system.
Along with the computers, when robots appear in
the market place, then the hex may challenge
the decimal system.
Day is not far off, when the human shaped robots
like the ASIMO from Honda will join the
factories, hospitals, etc to do some simple jobs.
I hope some 1 comes up with a computer which uses
decimal system instead of binary system.
Madan
--- Ma Be <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 04:09:34 -0800
> From: "Ma Be" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [USMA:23993] Re: Measure of all things
>
> On Tue, 10 Dec 2002 07:35:24
> Jim Elwell wrote:
> ...?? 'Nightmaring' would be much more like it!...
> :-( Looks like one
> >>keeps forgetting that it would take a lot more
> than just 12 fingers to
> >>make us "comfortable" in the base-12! (Our
> brains! For some reason, they
> >>simply do NOT work well in any other base but
> *pure* decimal! God
> >>certainly knew what He was doing... ;-) )
> >
> >Sorry, Marcus, but there is NOTHING magic about the
> number 10.
>
> You don't understand, Jim. This is not about
> 'magic' existing in our current base 10 system we
> all use, but that our brains have been proven to be
> "made to use base 10"!!! That's the essence of the
> research I was talking about.
>
> You may not be a... "believer" in God, but such
> result certainly seems to indicate that God did plan
> for us to use base 10 after all!! This may indeed
> have something to do with the fact that we were
> endowed with 10 fingers, I honestly don't know. It
> does make sense though since in times yonder
> humankind was still crawling when it comes to
> science. As we evolved into a more modern society,
> sure, we could, as you correctly argued, ultimately
> "get used" or 'familiar' with another base, like 12,
> for instance. But, still, we would NOT function as
> efficiently in it! That's the whole point, Jim.
>
> Just as a metaphor, for you to sort of... "connect"
> to what I'm saying: What you describe would be akin
> to what we presently have with computers. They are
> indeed more efficient using base 2 (or powers
> thereof), but because they serve *us*, humans,
> they're been forced to operate "inefficiently", or
> not at its best, in the base 10!
>
> > If we had
> >grown up with 12 fingers, and had a numbering
> system based on 12 (e.g.,
> >extracting from hexadecimal: 0, 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
> 8, 9, A, B, 10, 11...),
> >it would appear every bit as "natural" as decimal
> does to us now.
>
> Of course, but ONLY (and ONLY) IF God had designed
> our *brain* to... "follow suit" to that framework!
>
> Please understand that I'm talking about something a
> lot deeper than just "familiarity"! Our brain
> circuitry is very much like a computer's *in
> concept*! I firmly believe that there IS an
> ultimate reason for our sticking to the base 10 (not
> 12, or 16, or 2 or any other, for that matter!).
> So, please, let's not upset what Our Creator meant
> for us to use and do! :-)
>
> >For those of us who have spent years working in
> binary, octal and
> >hexadecimal, this is pretty obvious. "10" is
> special through familiarity,
> >not due to anything else.
> >
> Unfortunately, not exactly, Jim. Otherwise we would
> not have had that research! As I said earlier,
> true, we can be skillful using any other base; but
> 10, for some reason (these researchers did not go
> that far in their work) is... "special" or THE one
> that gives us the ultimate... edge. Just like base
> 2-derived systems would for computers.
>
> Regards, my dear friend.
>
> Marcus
>
>
>
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