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Claudio L. · 01-31-2017, 07:33 PM

(01-31-2017 06:42 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:
(01-27-2017 02:19 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote: Is anyone familiar with the Dozenal Society? (Link: http://www.dozenal.org/) The organization is advocating that we switch over from Base 10 to Base 12 in every day life.

One question: Why?

Tom "Tenfingers" Lake

There's really only one good reason to have a larger base: to be able to represent more fractions exactly.

12 = 3*2*2, so it can represent 1/2 and 1/3 fractions exactly (and all their powers and combinations).
10 = 2 * 5, 1/2 and 1/5 are exact, still 2 prime numbers so there's no clear advantage in using 12 vs 10. Since we have 10 fingers, 10 seems more logical, although 1/3 fractions are perhaps more common than 1/5 (can't prove that, though).

Why 12? I don't think 12 is good enough, if the goal is to have more fractions, we should use 30.

30 = 2*3*5, so 1/2, 1/3 and 1/5 (and all their powers and combinations) can be represented exactly. Quite difficult to remember 30 different symbols, though.

On the other hand, hardware uses only one base (2), so it would make more sense to move to a binary system (or a power of 2, octal, hex, etc) than a dozen.