Re:What Would Happen If There Were No Number 6?
by gicadin on Tuesday October 24, 2017 @06:01PM
(#15545598)
This is a very interesting way to get around the problem.
We could just work in base5, ( or lower) and mathematics would still make sense!
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:What Would Happen If There Were No Number 6?
by pbhjpbhj on Tuesday October 24, 2017 @06:10PM
(#15545662)
One of the very first things in maths I taught my kids -- after they could count to 20 -- was binary ("robot numbers!") and from there alternate number bases [stuck well with the first, not so well with second, not at that point with any others]. Think that came from the same place as "what if there's no 6".
I took the approach of how aliens would count if they didn't have "enough" fingers.
Re:What Would Happen If There Were No Number 6?
by gfredtech on Tuesday October 24, 2017 @06:30PM
(#15545765)
Someone told me that once; perhaps the reason we naturally count in base 10 is because we have 10 fingers. If there was no six, I also think that we'd be counting in base 5
Re:What Would Happen If There Were No Number 6?
by Xophmeister on Tuesday October 24, 2017 @06:46PM
(#15545857)
6 still "exists" in base 5, it's just that it equals...ahem...is congruent to 10.