"I always figured if man had two fingers, we'd all count in binary."

So how come we didn't end up using base 21?  :-) :-) :-)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Al Williams" <alw@AL-WILLIAMS.COM>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: [OT]: US and Metric System: UK viewpoint


> 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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