Why (western) humans use the decimal system?
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Is it really because we have ten fingers? Would it then not be more logical to use then a system based on 11?:confused: :laugh: Btw: I'm Aware, it took a longer time to recognize that "Zero" also exists. From what I remember it was somebody from India who recognized this fact first. [Edit] Try to imagine we would have only one finger...
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
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0x01AA wrote:
Would it then not be more logical to use then a system based on 11?
But then you couldn't teach kids about numbers bigger than ten without being arrested... :laugh: Probably, "because it works" - the Babylonians used sexagesimal, which is somewhat unwieldy; the Egyptians were decimal; some native American tribes used pental; Aristotle favoured ten as we have ten fingers; the Gauls and the Mayans were vigesimal (and this can still be seen in how the French count between 60 and 100) Probably, we have the Roman empire to blame: they brought their culture - and decimal-based numbering system - to most of Europe, and it stuck.
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i am an amateur student of ancient trade routes:
OriginalGriff wrote:
we have the Roman empire to blame: they brought their culture - and decimal-based numbering system - to most of Europe, and it stuck.
Roman Numerals are a non-positional notation, and incorporate base #5, as well as base #10. Romans used a duo-decimal system for fractions: [^] I'd give credit for the adoption of the modern positional base #10 decimal system in Europe to the Arab world via ancient Indian, and other, sources: [^].
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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i am an amateur student of ancient trade routes:
OriginalGriff wrote:
we have the Roman empire to blame: they brought their culture - and decimal-based numbering system - to most of Europe, and it stuck.
Roman Numerals are a non-positional notation, and incorporate base #5, as well as base #10. Romans used a duo-decimal system for fractions: [^] I'd give credit for the adoption of the modern positional base #10 decimal system in Europe to the Arab world via ancient Indian, and other, sources: [^].
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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Is it really because we have ten fingers? Would it then not be more logical to use then a system based on 11?:confused: :laugh: Btw: I'm Aware, it took a longer time to recognize that "Zero" also exists. From what I remember it was somebody from India who recognized this fact first. [Edit] Try to imagine we would have only one finger...
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
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Quote:
Aristotle favoured ten as we have ten fingers
So even he forgot about the Zero :-D [Edit] To be honest I don't understand :-O , sorry :-O :-O :doh:
Quote:
But then you couldn't teach kids about numbers bigger than ten without being arrested..
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
Well, he was an alcoholic! Bruce's Song[^]
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Holy ... whatever, can you please explain what you are discussing about in "my" thread :laugh:
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
Quote:
Roman Numerals are a non-positional notation
Roman numbers don't depend for value on their relative distance from the decimal point like ours does: they had different markers for Ten, Fifty, Hundred, and so on (until they needed really big numbers, when they started using bars over the number which multiplied it by 1000).
Quote:
incorporate base #5, as well as base #10
They used a kinda composite system , which used both base five (V, L, D) as well as base ten (X, C, M). Division in roman numbers was ... um ... interesting. whi8ch might have been why they used abaci (though we have no idea if they invented it or teh Chinese, they both used very similar devices).
Quote:
Romans used a duo-decimal system for fractions
I didn't know that!
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Well, he was an alcoholic! Bruce's Song[^]
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strange you are all, fingers have 8
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public class Finger
{
...
}
public class Thumb : Finger
{
...
}Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Is it really because we have ten fingers? Would it then not be more logical to use then a system based on 11?:confused: :laugh: Btw: I'm Aware, it took a longer time to recognize that "Zero" also exists. From what I remember it was somebody from India who recognized this fact first. [Edit] Try to imagine we would have only one finger...
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
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0x01AA wrote:
Is it really because we have ten fingers?
That's it, I guess, a sane application of the KISS principle (crazy people like Boole, found simpler counting with the arms).
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Quote:
Roman Numerals are a non-positional notation
Roman numbers don't depend for value on their relative distance from the decimal point like ours does: they had different markers for Ten, Fifty, Hundred, and so on (until they needed really big numbers, when they started using bars over the number which multiplied it by 1000).
Quote:
incorporate base #5, as well as base #10
They used a kinda composite system , which used both base five (V, L, D) as well as base ten (X, C, M). Division in roman numbers was ... um ... interesting. whi8ch might have been why they used abaci (though we have no idea if they invented it or teh Chinese, they both used very similar devices).
Quote:
Romans used a duo-decimal system for fractions
I didn't know that!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I know about another bool System, especally invented by (hu)man ;P :laugh: (I agree this is more soapbox now, sorry...)
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
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Holy ... whatever, can you please explain what you are discussing about in "my" thread :laugh:
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
0x01AA wrote:
explain what you are discussing
Re-read the title of your post, then re-read the links in my post. If you're still confused, don't feel you need to tell me :)
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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public class Finger
{
...
}
public class Thumb : Finger
{
...
}Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
Fingers eight Yoda has.
Ad astra - both ways!
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Is it really because we have ten fingers? Would it then not be more logical to use then a system based on 11?:confused: :laugh: Btw: I'm Aware, it took a longer time to recognize that "Zero" also exists. From what I remember it was somebody from India who recognized this fact first. [Edit] Try to imagine we would have only one finger...
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
No, octal would be more natural, since we actually have 8 fingers.Ayt least I do!
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Quote:
Roman Numerals are a non-positional notation
Roman numbers don't depend for value on their relative distance from the decimal point like ours does: they had different markers for Ten, Fifty, Hundred, and so on (until they needed really big numbers, when they started using bars over the number which multiplied it by 1000).
Quote:
incorporate base #5, as well as base #10
They used a kinda composite system , which used both base five (V, L, D) as well as base ten (X, C, M). Division in roman numbers was ... um ... interesting. whi8ch might have been why they used abaci (though we have no idea if they invented it or teh Chinese, they both used very similar devices).
Quote:
Romans used a duo-decimal system for fractions
I didn't know that!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
OriginalGriff wrote:
Romans used a duo-decimal system for fractions
Hi, There is some wonderful scholarly work going on by a modern generation of historians who are correcting the optics of the warped eurocentric/western lens prior generations' scholars looked through, and used to frame the interaction between "West and East." Lisa Jardine (deceased 2015) is one of my favorites; her work "Worldly Goods" is a masterpiece. Stewart Gordon's "There and Back: Twelve of the Great Routes of Human History" is a newer (2018) contribution. My own amateur research in this area is more oriented to intra-Asian trade, and cultural transmission of ideas, art, and culture. 1300 years ago, in (what is now) China, we could have leased Bactrian camels to take our precious silks and luxury crafts across the Silk Road, a journey of 185 days; the Bactrian Camels, carrying a load of 100~200kg. each, could go for three days without water as we crossed the Taklamakan desert, even though we couldn't. For money, we might have used Sasanian silver (ancient Iranian empire: a high-quality mintage widely used). But, of course, silk itself was a currency all along the Silk Road. If we survived our journey, we might have come back rich, perhaps laden with Roman gold. More importantly, we might have had stories to tell that induced wonder in all who heard them.
«... thank the gods that they have made you superior to those events which they have not placed within your own control, rendered you accountable for that only which is within you own control For what, then, have they made you responsible? For that which is alone in your own power—a right use of things as they appear.» Discourses of Epictetus Book I:12
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:-O Ok let us use the toes :-O :-O :-O
It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question
The danes and the french does.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
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public class Finger
{
...
}
public class Thumb : Finger
{
...
}Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
[Is a thumb a finger? | Oxford Dictionaries](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/is-a-thumb-a-finger/). 'Appendage' or 'digit' would be a better base class. :-\ :laugh:
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Fingers eight Yoda has.
Ad astra - both ways!
Interesting it makes when guitar he plays
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
