Nice history! Your " I always figured if man had two fingers, we'd all
count in binary." reminds me that we DO count in binary, at least to the
right of the decimal (or is that binary) point? In the US, fractional
measurements are all done on powers of 2. Thus, we measure 1/2, 1/4, 1/8,
1/16, and 1/32 of an inch...  People use base 2 every day and don't
realize it...

Harold


On Fri, 8 Mar 2002 11:23:27 -0600 Al Williams <alw@AL-WILLIAMS.COM>
writes:
> The Sumerians used base 60 which is convenient for dividing and
> multiplying as it has factors of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and
> 30.
> The Sumerians also divided the circle into 360 degrees as an echo of
> the
> days of the year.  Fragments of this Sumerian legacy live on in our
> modern expression of angles in 'degrees, minutes and seconds' and
> our
> similar division of the day into 'hours, minutes and seconds' -all
> in
> base 60.  The word dozen derives from a Sumerian word meaning 'A
> fifth
> of 60'.
>
> Babylonians took over the same system from the Sumerians. From
> there, I
> think it passed to the Semites and then to the Phoenicians.
>
> I always figured if man had two fingers, we'd all count in binary.
>
> The Mayans had a base 20, used positional notation and knew about 0.
>
> Egyptians used base 10 with an additive system (similar to Roman
> notation) and had been using it since at least 1450BC.
>
> Al Williams
> AWC
> * Easy RS-232 Prototyping
> http://www.al-williams.com/awce/rs1.htm
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: pic microcontroller discussion list
> > [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of Harold M Hallikainen
> > Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 11:01 AM
> > To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [OT]: US and Metric System: UK viewpoint
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 8 Mar 2002 11:36:36 -0800 Bob Ammerman
> > <rammerman@ADELPHIA.NET>
> > writes:
> > > > > A circle is divided into 360 degrees. Anyone in favour of
> making
> > > that
> > > > > 100?
> > >
> > > 400 makes some kind of sense (100 per quadrant)
> > >
> >
> >         Doesn't the 360 degree circle follow from some
> > ancient civilization that used a base 60 number system? And
> > our 60 minutes per hour, 60 seconds per minute, etc. Anyone
> > remember the Saturday Night Live skit on the metric day? Just
> > like the current day, but it has 100 hours...  I've had days
> > like that...
> >
> > Harold
> >
> >
> > FCC Rules Online at http://hallikainen.com/FccRules
> > Lighting control for theatre and television at
> > http://www.dovesystems.com
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________________________________
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FCC Rules Online at http://hallikainen.com/FccRules
Lighting control for theatre and television at http://www.dovesystems.com


________________________________________________________________
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Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
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