Actually, to elaborate a bit on my initial comments as extracted above, the
original numbering system was created by prehistoric man, prior to the
invention of the loincloth. At that time, a base-eleven system was used.
With the invention of the loincloth, the 11th digit was no longer easily
visible, so was relegated to its present status as a "sign bit".

Due to anatomical limitations, the female of the species never was able to
master the base-11 system. When attempting to do so, the MSbit was always
read as 0.

I have a problem here...   if the 11th bit is  sign bit,  then I can't see
where it came from as the current 'standard' defines the SET condition
indicating a negative value...

Around my area, setting the 11th bit definitely results in positive
results.

I'm just grateful that the early development of shoe technology precluded
the
introduction of a base-20 (or base 21?) numbering system.

It depends on your tendencies... !

Rob (Trust me, it's a fact) Whitney