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MEOW_MAM t1_iwywgfu wrote

Reply to comment by Zirnike in [WP] "The new species call themselves 'humans', and while their intelligence is on the low end when it comes to interstellar civilisations, their pure mathematical knowledge is far superior to the entire galactic community's." by Mabi19_

Base 8???

Nah fuck them no more peace for those dipshit

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mack0409 t1_iwzvody wrote

Base8 is probably about as usable as base10, but base12 is way better than either.

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MEOW_MAM t1_iwzzlf2 wrote

I've had one of my buddies praise the shit out of base12 non stop for the last motherfucking months and it's driving me insane. I do not see why it's supposedly so good.

I mean, base10 increases in digits each 10^n times, it makes sense and is continues. Meanwhile base12? It's like base10 but I also have to not forget the extra 2. It's just more confusing.

I'm serious, do tell me why folks think base12 is so good because it's making me lose my mind.

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RoyalGarbage t1_ix01uwn wrote

Base 12 is considered more useful because it has more factors: It’s divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6 instead of just by 2 and 5. That doesn’t make it any easier for somebody who’s used base 10 their whole life, though.

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Duck_Giblets t1_ixkjtdt wrote

Needs division by zero to be of any reasonable and realistic use.

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Ancient_Condition96 t1_iyb2ahk wrote

Everyone else when they encounter fractions: Lets solve them to a decimal form so that we can actually use the number.

Americans: lets leave it at that, you don't need to learn more math do you? No just leave it as it is, no need to complicate it more...

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Yeah I'm annoyed with the american's use of fractions, worse they use them right along side imperial measurement units... ugh every time I see something like "15/18 inches" I feel the need to scream.

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mack0409 t1_ix0m4bp wrote

There's not a modern society that can handle switching their counting system from one base to another, and a person that tries is basically just trying to learn to count all over again, except they already know how to count "wrong." Base2, base12, and base60 all have a few things in common, they're all highly composite numbers and are used in wide scale applications. Base12 is "better" than base10 pretty much only based on 12 being highly composite. Though if you look at the English language "twelve" doesn't exactly say "2+10" the way thirteen says "3+10"

Another thing to consider, when counting in Base(n), "n" is always rendered as "10" If something is actually in base12 then ten would usually be rendered as "A" or "a" and eleven would be rendered as "B" or "b"

Base12 isn't going to be better to use in pretty much any modern person's life, but if a hypothetical new society emerged independent from our, base6 or base12 would almost certainly be more useful than base10.

Though using base6 can be pretty easy for most people; you can think of one hand as the "ones" place (is usually use my right hand) and the other hand as the "sixes" place. count on your fingers as normal until the "ones hand" is full, when you reach five. Then you add one by closing the "ones hand" and opening one finger on the "sixes hand". If you repeat this (and have all your fingers) you should be able to count to thirty-five on just your hands! Doing this might also help you notice that thirty-five renders as "55" when written in base6.

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