The Basis of Ten

Zero through ten. It strikes me as a mistake to base a numerical system on the number of fingers one has on her hands. This arbitrary decision made by someone centuries ago has firmly taken hold in all aspects of our lives. We tend to think in 10, most of the world measures in 10, math is represented in tens, yet 10 is not devisable by 3 or 4 but only by 1, 2, and 5. It’s nice to have a half of something but what if I only want a third?

So we have a dozen eggs, 12 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour. These number are divisible by a much larger set of numbers than 10. 12 has 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. 60 is devisable by 1 through 6! Moving the world to a base 12 numerical system would, of course, be folly but I think 10 was a bad initial decisions. Like so many bad initial decisions, made by ourselves or some person hundreds of years ago, we are stuck with it.

I sure would like to have a third of a meter.

On second thought duration is a bad example because it is a mixed radix system. We have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and than it falls off the tracks. 24 hours is a day, 7 days in a week, …. woops backing up …. 28-31 days in a month, 12 months in a year, 365 (1/4 (unless your year is devisable by 100 but not if it is devisable by 400) ) days in a year, and lets not forget about leap seconds.

At least I get my bagels by the dozen.