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Every base is base 10 (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by realitista@lemmy.world to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[-] frezik@midwest.social 6 points 7 months ago

This is why I'm not totally sold on the idea that we use base 10 because we have 10 fingers. There are a lot of ways to count with your fingers. Plus, there are many cultures throughout human history that use something else. Base 10 in modern times might just be a historical quirk.

[-] problematicPanther@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

iirc, the reason that time is base 60 is because some ancient peoples figured out how to count to 60 on their fingers.

[-] dukatos@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

I can count to 1023 using both hands but only to 31 using one.

[-] teft@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Some societies used base 27 from counting body parts. Sumeria famously used base 60. It’s why minutes and hours are divided by 60

this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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