What's a good numerical base?
 

He may have said something about opposable digits. Two fingers alone would give you the ability to hold, but you really need three to manipulate implements in three dimensional space.

This is Bing speaking, so we can't be entirely sure he's on the mark. But he hasn't let me down in general. Although once he starts talking about shotguns his eyes glaze over and we have to lead him away by the arm.

Base 13 http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

Base 9
Then since 9 is 3X3 anyone reading it will start to look for other religious/god references. Since readers find whatever their bias tells them to see, the work of fiction will appear to have deeper levels of meaning. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif

Base 16 is the only reasonable base.

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Worse still, I failed to make good use of prime innuendo potential. I didn't intend this, but it came out with a pun already. The day may be salvageable yet. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

They only have one finger??? That sucks.

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
My friend Bing is working on a piece of fiction about a non-human intelligent civilization. He has decided that these creatures will have pseudopods, not fingers. Therefore they can have as many fingers as they want at any given time.

Because of this, their numerical system may start off arbitrarily, rather than going to decimal like we did.

We're trying to figure out what base would be better to use than 10, which is only divisible by 2 and 5.

Bing reckons the minimum number of fingers you really need for fine manipulation is three. But a base-3 system isn't very convenient. I'm suggesting a base-6 system, as that's divisible by 2 and 3. Bing has even toyed with a base-8 or a base-12 system.

What do you think? He could give them 4 arms with 2 fingers each. And real pot instead of this pseudo pot.....

Okay, it's looking like base-6 is winning out.

The creatures (fungi) can sprout limbs as needed. Because they spend most of their time standing still, Bing decided to make them favor a tripedal system. (Note how three legs is the minimum number of legs a chair needs in order to be stable, even on uneven ground.)

So with three legs, the creatures would favor three arms. With three arms of two fingers each, that leads to base-6.

They can sprout three fingers if they need to do things like write and craft, etc.

16 is a natural choice

Originally posted by BeBro


He could give them 4 arms with 2 fingers each. And real pot instead of this pseudo pot..... LOL ! Yeah - share !

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Okay, it's looking like base-6 is winning out.

The creatures (fungi) can sprout limbs as needed. Because they spend most of their time standing still, Bing decided to make them favor a tripedal system. (Note how three legs is the minimum number of legs a chair needs in order to be stable, even on uneven ground.)

So with three legs, the creatures would favor three arms. With three arms of two fingers each, that leads to base-6.

They can sprout three fingers if they need to do things like write and craft, etc. Why not base 7? If you go by that, with the three lower limbs, three upper limbs, yes, we might think 6.

But that doesn't mean they would, necessarily. Limbs + Head = 7, for instance.

Or, if they looked skyward, how many moons does the world have? 4? 12? 16? 7?

But then, would they really need a number system? There are languages that only have the words for "one", "two", and then "more"; admittedly, they're not really developed, but...

forty-two, maybe ? (yeah, bad idea, i agree)

If those fungi can choose how many limbs they have, maybe Bing should focus not so much on what they have in common, but on their differencies. The numerical base could be one of which - some use 3 and some 6. They fight wars about it (or so they believe).

It's not just low-level programming.

Just what exactly do you do with computers, Thue?

I know you don't draw pretty pictures because I've seen FreeCiv and it is offensively ugly.

Originally posted by Thue
I know that base 2 is nice for pointer math, divides/multiplies by 2^n, specifying IP/mac addresses, and character values. As I said, low-level programming. What else would it be good for? Hex is used everywhere in computers. Even **** like %20 in a URL is hex...

Given how prevalent computers are in everything related to life, and given how clean hex is, it makes the most sense.

Originally posted by Thue


Yes, but it is only relevant to programmers - everything a user sees should be through enough abstraction that it doesn't matter.

So if everybody were a computer programmer then base 16, no contest. But few people are.

And I really like the ability to easily multiply by/divide by 3, which you can in base 12, but not in base 16. 3 people who want to split a bill 3 ways is a very common use case, also for non-programmers http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif. You can split a bill 3 ways without resorting to using base 12...

I'm not sure you understand the question. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

Anyone who can't divide by 3 needs to be put out to pasture -- or at the very least, deported to Denmark.

But with 12, "5" is no longer a common factor. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...milies/mad.gif Nor is 10.

You say it's a benefit then you're just changing the factors.

I'm asking for a paradigm shift, something you do not comprehend, being a silly Dane from Denmark in Europe. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...milies/mad.gif

I do not understand your obsession with 3. It's not a common number?

You have a terrible argument. Common factors may make life easier for people without basic math skills, but in the age of digital transactions why does it matter anyway. People pay now by putting their card in proximity of a scanning device. How many common factors does that have?

Hex is the cleanest of the number systems for the digital age. Fact.

Originally posted by Thue


Non-programmers have no use for Hex. Fact http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...milies/mad.gif. Fact: Thue is a European and doesn't understand that people in North American can divide by 3 without resorting to a new number system.