How? How would you represent, say, 25?
Numerology, has it ever been tested?
- Thread starter Mr. Stick
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How? How would you represent, say, 25?
[reallly stupid and probably missing something obvious alert]
How? I can only work how to get to 30 that way.
[/really stupid and probably missing something obvious alert]
But as UserGoogol says, presumably taken from the Wiki article, all the number systems used various combinations of fingers to count. 10 isn't at all special in this respect, so that can't possibly be the reason it is popular. More to the point, as far as I am aware there is nothing more than speculation and "common sense" to support this idea. Sure, you can count on fingers, but why would that have any effect on what you write down? If anything, the fact that many languages treat the first 12 or 20 numbers as special suggests that we weren't using 10 at all until we started writing numbers down, at which point fingers become irrelevant. It seems much more likely that fingers were fitted to the numbers, rather than the numbers being fitted to our fingers.
This also comes to the next point, which is that, as I said earlier, base 10 didn't catch on.
Exactly. It's actually a bit silly to wonder why we use base 10, since a lot of the time we don't, or at least didn't until very recently. The base used doesn't depend on the symbols you use to write it, it depends on the actual system you're using. It doesn't matter how you write it, if you measure in feet and inches, you're using base 12.
Base 10 has really only become popular with anyone other than mathematicians in the last couple of centuries, with globalisation giving rise to a need for standards.The advantage the metric system has over older systems isn't the base used, it is that the same base is used throughout the system. Compare imperial:
16ths *16 -> inches *12 -> feet *3 -> yards *22 -> chain *10 -> furlong *8 -> mile
with metric:
metre *10^n -> whatever
JonWhite
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All fingers (inc. thumbs) of both hands:
The five fingers of the "base" 6 hand (5 x 6 = 30) + the five single digit fingers of the other hand.
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Mr. Stick
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I'm not quite sure about the English terms. I believe what we use in surveying is called gradians (400 gon to a full circle), it's called new-degrees in Danish. Azimuths for directions.
In primary school trigonometri is taught in degrees, which is what most Danes would associate with angle measurements.
Mr. Stick
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Cold one
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Um, lets see 2 fingers down = 20, five fingers = 25
Try holding both hands up in front of your face fingers spread out and straight.
Now count the fingers(thumbs included) should be able to make ten out of that.
Now you know you have 10 fingers, am I correct in assuming you can get that far?
Now you can simply use a thumb and forefinger for 20 and the other hand is 5.
But lets go with someone who can't remeber past 2 seconds...
Start as above and count now fold your thumb for 10 and count again (counting your thumb). Now fold your index finger (congradulations you can count to 20). Now count to five and you get to 25.
What do you do for 29?
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
I've always counted to ten on one hand in a way that I was shown on Sesame Street far too many years ago. You count to five by successively raising fingers - index first, thumb last. For six you touch your thumb to your forefinger, for seven your thumb to your middle finger, for eight your thumb to your ring finger, for nine your thumb to your pinkie, and for ten you raise just your thumb.
If you want to add the other hand, you can use it for the tens digit in the same way - you will omit the raising of the thumb to count ten. For twenty nine, it's the index and middle finger of the left hand, and the thumb touching the pinkie of the right. Thirty is the first three fingers of the left and none of the right. Thus you can count up to 99 on two hands (thumbs touching pinkies of both hands).
Using binary, you can count up to thirty one on one hand, and up to 1021 on two.
If you want to add the other hand, you can use it for the tens digit in the same way - you will omit the raising of the thumb to count ten. For twenty nine, it's the index and middle finger of the left hand, and the thumb touching the pinkie of the right. Thirty is the first three fingers of the left and none of the right. Thus you can count up to 99 on two hands (thumbs touching pinkies of both hands).
Using binary, you can count up to thirty one on one hand, and up to 1021 on two.
That's really good, I've never heard of that before.
Check your fingers, I can get to 1023
It's possible, but you need flexible fingers.