> > I just got interested in base-12 because I'm a very spatial person. I was thinking about how a number system could render a 3-D environment, and make the arithmatic a bit easier. I learned about bases in a strange way. You know the calculator that comes with Windows? Well, it can do bases... octa, hex, and binary. (But not base-12! D'oh!) I got to fooling around with that, and before I knew it, I figured that base-12 would be the easiest, seeing as it's divisible by not only 2, but also 6, 3, AND 4. Consider geometry in that! Rotation by 1/3 AND 1/4 would be a piece of cake. (I've also learned that math in any base that's a prime number is HARD.)
>
> You'd still have trouble dividing an angle in three by construction, though. :-) But I've thought the same thing myself before: Why 10? It's a bit impractical. I don't remember who it was who had a base-8 system (Arabic?), but I can't help thinking how much easier programming would be. Actually you *can* program in base-8, but you also have to get your mind used to it. And that's maybe the hardest part.
> [...]


I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before about Base 12, but I'll say it anyway....

I'm in full agreement that base-10 is not as practical nor useful as base-12, considering 12 has four divisors and 10 has only two divisors. Also, God in the Bible seems to promote the superior concept of defining things by units of Twelve (though I really can't understand why Seven is also a desirable number representing 'perfect' completion.)

It's possible that our focus on base-10 is forced by an English-speaking perspective. Other languages have a historical focus on base-20, for example.

In German, for instance, you have
"Ein und Zwanzig" = one and twenty, or 21.

In French, there's
"quatre-vingt-quatorze" = four twenties and fourteen, or 94
"quatre-vingt-dix-sept" = four twenties plus ten and seven, or 97

I'm sure there are others.


> > PS: if it impressed you, does that mean I can name one of the new digits after myself? :)
>
> Only if I get one of them, too.
>
> Trav"one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, Travholt, Jannette, ten"holt.


Well, we already have the language capacity to handle base-12. Take a look:

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,

Twelfty-one, twelfty-two, twelfy-three, twelfty-four, twelfty-five, twelfty-six, twelfty-seven, twelfty-eight, twelfty-nine, twelfty-ten, twelfty-eleven, thirteenty,

thirteenty-one, thirteenty-two, thirteenty-three, thirteenty-four, thirteenty-five, thirteenty-six, thirteenty-seven, thirteenty-eight, thirteenty-nine, thirteenty-ten, thirteenty-eleven... And so on.

Think anyone'd have a problem with this?


Wolf ";)" spirit