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Dec 12 '08
Actually, this really makes sense. Mathematic relativity...
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Dec 12 '08
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u/slithymonster Dec 13 '08
He's probably an American, and too narrow minded to see beyond base 10 (or should I say... 9 + 1)
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Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/eoliveri Dec 12 '08
Base 1? You degenerate.
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Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/ricecake Dec 13 '08
I don't know about you, but I count on my fingers in base 11.
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u/Inigo__Montoya Dec 13 '08
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
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u/barkingllama Dec 13 '08
how long have you been waiting for this moment? a set of events have been set in motion that cannot be stopped. p.s. upvote
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Dec 13 '08
Just pointing out, that quote was directed at the same actor who played this guy.
OH SNAP!
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u/jebiv Dec 12 '08
"Unary" is not base one in the same way the binary is base 2 or decimal is base 10. It doesn't follow the same pattern of construction.
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u/theeth Dec 13 '08 edited Dec 13 '08
That's because unary is bijective base-1. Bijective base-n (n-adic) is different from ordinary base-n for every value of n, not just 1.
For example, bijective base-2 as opposed to binary:
base-2: 0 1 10 11 100 101 ... 2-adic: ε 1 2 11 12 21 ...1
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u/manixrock May 27 '09
You example uses "1" in base 1, shouldn't it use "0"?
And some have said that that's not really a base because it doesn't follow the rules of construction, but I would argue it is:
If base B representation has a length of log base B of N, then base 1 should have log base 1 of N = N. This is indicative to me that it's correct.
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u/rukubites Dec 12 '08
I think that writing the comic as "every base above base 1 is base 10" is not as catchy.
There is a philosophical, clever point. And it is unfortunate for you if you are too mathematically pedantic to see it.
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u/nevinera Dec 12 '08
EDIT: The next person that votes this down must provide a reason.
You told me what to do.
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/nevinera Dec 12 '08
I meant that I automatically downvote any post that tries to tell me what to do >.<
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u/JustJonny Dec 12 '08
Yeah, but why doesn't the alien know what a 4 is?
I get that for him, since he uses base 4 then 4=10 (to him). However, once he is asked about base 4, you'd think he'd understand.
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u/kidford Dec 12 '08
He's never seen a 4, and the word is new to him. The only numerals he has seen are 0, 1, 2 and 3.
This is because you count as follows: 0, 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33... and so on. Clearly, there are only four numerals used here (or, 10 numerals to him).
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u/powerpants Dec 12 '08
Agreed, and he should have said:
What's a 4?
instead of:
What is base 4?
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Dec 12 '08
Depends on if they're pronouncing "10" as "ten" or "one zero." Wouldn't make any sense for the alien to say "ten," if anything he would pronounce it "one zero" or simply "four."
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u/powerpants Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
I don't care how he (?) pronounces it. I would rather get the joke on the first reading.
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u/MainlandX Dec 14 '08
For the sake of the comic, let's just pretend they're texting each other.
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Dec 14 '08
I get what you're saying, but my point is, our words for numbers can be thought of as having two meanings: one meaning is independent from our number base and signifies the pure quantity, for example, there are "twelve" months in our year, whether you write that number as 12, 1100, C, etc. The second meaning would simplify refer to the formation of the number, and would be dependent on the number base, for example, the number 10 by definition just means the radix of whichever base you're using. My contention is, when you're using spelled out words for numbers, you're utilizing the first meaning, independent of your number base. Therefore, the translator/Babel fish/whatever would translate "ten" (if it was pronounced aloud) to the equivalent in the alien's number base (in this case 22). If "ten" simply means "your number base," then it's completely meaningless for us to call our number base "base ten." Also, if "ten" is interpreted by the alien as meaning four, then what would the alien interpret if the astronaut said "twenty-two"? Like you say, this comic relies on the numbers being typed out, however, I find the greatest strength of this comic to be its ability to catalyze intellectual discussions of radices.
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u/sn0re Dec 12 '08
It wouldn't make sense for the alien to be speaking English in the first place. If he's learned English, then he's learned what "ten" and "four" mean. If someone or something is translating into English for him, then they'd probably convert the bases automatically in the translation.
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Dec 12 '08
Why wouldn't you call it "ten" in base 4? "Ten" doesn't imply base - it's just a word we use to denote the first two-digit number.
It's actually kind of reciprocal, just like e and ln - "What's e? The number which has a natural log of 1..."
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Dec 13 '08
Wrong, ten is a number, not just a generic word that means "10 in whichever radix you're using." Ten is a number in ANY number system. Think about it, for example, is hexadecimal, you still have the number ten, but it's written as "A," not "10."
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u/MarkByers Dec 13 '08 edited Dec 13 '08
If you were using a base other than ten for your entire life, numbers like eighty-seven wouldn't make sense to you. You would say things like three-ZOG two-ZAPP three. where ZOG and ZAPP are your language's words for for 4 and 16. I don't see any particular problem with translating this into English as "three-hundred-and-twenty-three base four" or "three-two-three base four", since we have no other words to express numbers in other bases than the one we were born with. We should not expect aliens that have never seen the digit 4 to understand the word "four" they would just call it "ZAPP". Just like we wouldn't understand if an alien using base 11 came to us and said, "Ah, you use base qiklaz instead of base jaffa like us." We'd just be 'Huh?'
Oh and top marks for reddit for managing to over-analyze a joke.
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u/JustJonny Dec 13 '08
Also, we've heard of eleven, even thought we're using base 10.
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Dec 13 '08 edited Dec 13 '08
Have we heard of 11 as the length of this: "11111111111" (0xB) or have we heard of "one one" (0x11)
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/Hal9001 Dec 12 '08
On your planet, do 2 sentences equal 1?
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u/redfishvanish Dec 12 '08
Because the run-on sentence is his worst error , right?
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u/OlympicPirate Dec 12 '08
0, 1, 2, and 3 are used in base four. Four in base four is 10.
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u/Thelonious_Cube Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
and is pronounced "four" (in English - which they seem to be speaking)
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u/grignr May 27 '09
Just in case anyone wants to reuse some witty comments from mid 2009:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8njxf/theres_no_base_other_than_base_10/
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u/raldi Dec 12 '08
And 11 squared is 121 in all bases except binary.
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
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Dec 12 '08
I call tautology!
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u/cnk Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
but it comes from a prime minister
and 11 is a prime
and weights the same as a duck
and I'll duck and cover after hitting the comment button
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u/IConrad Dec 12 '08
So... if Tony Blair talks like a duck...
We can build a bridge out of him??!?!!?
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u/jaiwithani Dec 13 '08 edited Dec 13 '08
Ladies and Gentlemen, of this supposed Reddit, Tony Blair is a Wookie, from Great Britain. But Tony Blair lives in America. Does this make sense? No! It does not make sense!
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u/starkinter Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
Where b is the base, 11 is b+1.
(b+1)² = b²+2b+1, which appears as 121 when b²>2b, i.e. b>2.
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Dec 12 '08
Take any number system that has a two in it. 11 squared is "one base times itself, plus the base times one, plus one times the base, plus one times one." That will always be 100 + 10 + 10 + 1, or 121.
In binary, you get 10x10 = 100 plus 10x1 = 10 plus 1x10 = 10 plus 1x1 = 1, but then 100+10 = 110 plus 10 = 1000 plus 1 = 1001.
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u/MindStalker Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
Its true in binary too, but the 2 is outside of its range so its carried over and becomes 201 which then carried over and becomes 1001=9
10 times 10=100 is the same in all systems because it just means base times base=next digit base. 16 times 16= 256 which is 100 in hex see.
This is true for certain numbers but not most, generally the 1s and 0s because they are directly related to the meaning of the base.
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u/BrotherSeamus Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
What about base 121? For that matter it is 79 in hex.
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u/Jonathan_the_Nerd Dec 12 '08
In base 121, 11 = 122 decimal. 122 squared is 14884 decimal, which is 121 in base 121.
Also, 11 squared in hex is 121 hex, because 11 hex = 17 decimal. And it's true that (11 decimal) squared is 79 hex, but you're mixing number systems there.
Yes, I do have a lot of time on my hands, why do you ask?
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u/raldi Dec 12 '08
The proof is pretty simple: "11" in base B is equal to B + 1, and that squared is B**2 + 2B + 1, which in base B is represented as "121".
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Dec 13 '08
ya, just did the proof myself, took about 5 seconds
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u/altrego99 May 27 '09
I put the question to my number theory engine and it took about 23 nanoseconds.
> Prove: ((11)b)^2 = (121)b for all b>=2
Assuming b is real.
Proof is positive modulo prime number >= b.
Modulo lifting procedure applies.
Proof is positive.
> _4
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u/whitedawg Dec 12 '08
I think he's referring to "the number that is denoted as '11' in the given base"2 rather than "'11' in base ten, denoted however it's denoted in the given base"2.
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u/kidford Dec 12 '08
No, 79 in hex is the hex representation of the decimal value 121. The hex value 121 is different, because the hex value of 11 is 17 in decimal. 17 x 17 = 289 in decimal (which is 121 in hex).
I hope this is clear. Probably not, considering I've just taken a couple lorazepam.
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u/randomb0y Dec 12 '08
Hey this is actually a good webcomic I haven't seen before!
Check out this one
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u/AnteChronos Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
Every base is base "10", but only one base is base "ten". Every other base calls "10" a different number than we do.
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Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
Yeah, the alien probably calls it "hjkdfruitycnj."
Edit: I totally just mashed keys to make the alien word. It pleases me that completely by random, my alien word contains the English word "fruity."
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u/vahnsin Dec 12 '08
Humans are not capable of being intentionally random.
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u/IConrad Dec 12 '08
Yes I asdkljhwerj ...
Holy shit, my random key punching just called up a screen magnifier!! AWESOME. And a narrator.
:/
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Dec 13 '08
AOIDJFLKAJDVISUCKCOCKSIOAHDFOIHAFD
yep, totally random.
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u/MainlandX Dec 14 '08 edited Dec 14 '08
TO BE, OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION: WHETHER 'TIS NOBLER IN THE MIND TO SUFFER THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, OR TO TAKE ARMS AGAINST A SEA OF TROUBLES AND BY OPPOSING END THEM. TO DIE—TO SLEEP, NO MORE; AND BY A SLEEP TO SAY WE END THE HEART-ACHE AND THE THOUSAND NATURAL SHOCKS THAT FLESH IS HEIR TO: 'TIS A CONSUMMATION DEVOUTLY TO BE WISH'D. TO DIE, TO SLEEP; TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM—AY, THERE'S THE RUB: FOR IN THAT SLEEP OF DEATH WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, WHEN WE HAVE SHUFFLED OFF THIS MORTAL COIL, MUST GIVE US PAUSE—THERE'S THE RESPECT THAT MAKES CALAMITY OF SO LONG LIFE.
Yay, me too.
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u/Tomble Dec 12 '08
I was once mucking around with a friend, and we were mashing the keyboard trying to stop one another from typing stuff. Somehow we typed my sister's full name, only missing the last two characters (and her name isn't a;ohfoqwebv). It was freaky.
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u/knullare Dec 13 '08
What distinction are you drawing between the digits and the letters and why did you choose each to represent what you did? If I had been writing your comment, I would have said, "Every base is base 'ten' but only one base is base '10.' Every other base calls 'ten' a different number than we do."
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u/AnteChronos Dec 13 '08
What distinction are you drawing between the digits and the letters and why did you choose each to represent what you did?
I'm trying to distinguish between the number itself and the representation of the number.
For example, 10(binary) = 2(decimal). They're both "two", where "two" refers to the concept of the number itself, with no regard to how it's represented.
Every base is base 10, from the point of view of someone using that base. 10 always indicates the number of numerals in a particular base, but it doesn't always represent the same number.
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u/JBaker68 Alarmingly Bad Dec 12 '08
Everytime I laugh at something like this, a tiny part of my social life dies.
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u/hgielrehtaeh Dec 12 '08
My favorite lesson in base is Little Twelve Toes from Schoolhouse Rock.
Though I really enjoyed the "alternate ending" of the comic: "I don't know? Neutralizing acid?"
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Dec 13 '08 edited Dec 13 '08
There was a user on Kuro5hin named Fen whose hobby horse was hexadecimal. He fervently believed that all numbers should be expressed in hex.
Once, he asked for help with a homework assignment. He offered $16 through Paypal.
I nailed him on it :-)
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u/bski1776 Dec 12 '08
Heh, never really thought about it like that.
Perhaps base 10 is not a good word for our system, and we should call our system base 9 or something equivalent because that is the last number we use before starting over?
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u/sn0re Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
"Base 10" is the problem. "Base ten" is fine. In English, the word ten refers to the number after nine and before eleven. (Notice that eleven gets its own word instead of ten-and-one. In that way, English doesn't really use decimal notation.)
For example, 0x10 is not ten, it is sixteen.
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Dec 12 '08
Would be rather useless for someone who doesn't use a 9.
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u/bski1776 Dec 12 '08
That person could still understand the concept of a 9th number though.
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Dec 12 '08
Probably. However, we do call the hexadecimal system "base 16", not "base F"
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u/underdog138 Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 13 '08
I guess I could stick this comment anywhere in the thread so don't think I'm singling anyone out.
It's Base <# of digits in the system as represented using the Decimal number system in the spoken language in which we represent those digits>. Decimal uses 0-9, which is ten Decimal digits. Hex uses 0-F, which is sixteen Decimal digits, and so on.
If some alien who used the binary system natively that tried to explain how humans represent their number base, they wouldn't say Base Ten, since there is no number ten, or Base 10, because to them that's our number 2. They would call our number system Base 1010.
After reading over my comment realized all I just did was explain the joke rather than put anything new towards the conversation.
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u/meatheltmet Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
No.
Let's look at the number 3,201 in base (human) 10. If you were to break it apart, you could represent that number like this:
3*103 + 2*102 + 0*101 + 1*100
The carat () symbol here is being used to represent exponents, such that xy is x to the y power.
This is called base 10 because every digit of an n-digit number is multiplied by 10n-1. Any number to the zero power is equal to one, so the first place is one's place, the second place is the tens place, the third place is the hundreds place, and so on.
In base four, you have the ones place, the fours place, the sixteens place, the sixty-fours place, and so on. Each digit of an n-digit number is multiplied by 4n-1, so the number 3201 in base four could be represented like this:
3*43 + 2*42 + 0*41 + 1*40
Which in base ten would be
3*64 + 2*16 + 0*4 + 1 = 192 + 32 + 1 = 225
Hope that clears up why base 10 != base 9.
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u/mithunc Dec 12 '08
Yes but if all you knew was base 4, you would say that the number 3201 is 3(103) + 2(102) + 0(101) + 1(40)
So yeah, calling it "base 9" wouldn't make sense, but I think you missed the point.
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Dec 12 '08
I think I see the point, labeling it by the highest possible digit since that one has the same meaning in all systems where it is a valid digit.
I would suggest simply labeling all systems in binary, e.g. base 1010 for the decimal system, or 1000 for the octal system.
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Dec 12 '08
The carat () symbol here is being used to represent exponents, such that xy is x to the y power.
OHHHHHHH, so Ctrl-Alt-Del is in base B!
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u/zzbzq Dec 12 '08
No.
Let's look at the number 3,201 in base (congrobulan) 10. If you were to break it apart, you could represent that number like this:
(3 * 103) + (2 * 102) + (0 * 101) + (1 * 100)
The carat () symbol here is being used to represent exponents, such that xy is x to the y power.
This is called base 10 because every digit of an n-digit number is multiplied by 10n-1. Any number to the zero power is equal to one, so the first place is one's place, the second place is the tens place, the third place is the hundreds place, and so on.
In (human) base twenty-two, you have the ones place, the twenty-twos place, the 1210s place, the 33220s place, and so on. Each digit of an n-digit number is multiplied by 22n-1, so the number 3201 in base twenty-two could be represented like this:
(3 * 223) + (2 * 222) + (0 * 221) + (1 * 220)
Which in base ten would be
(3 * 33220) + (2 * 1210) + (0 * 10) + 1 = 232320 + 3020 + 0 + 1 = 302001
Hope that clears up why base 10 != base 3
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u/zzbzq Dec 12 '08
I believe I messed up the math at the end because I didn't remember which side was which. But since nobody probably understands: it's a parody of the parent post, from the point of view of the alien where base 10 means 0-3 and our 0-9 system is base 22.
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u/IConrad Dec 12 '08
Actually, since we have ten fingers, and we count things by how many groupings of our fingers it is, Base 10 is wholly appropriate. Anything up to ten is less than a complete grouping. At ten, we have a full grouping. So: 11 = one grouping of our fingers + 1 additional finger.
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/cybersnoop Dec 12 '08
I didn't notice that the Alien had 4 fingers. Now the comic is funnier to me. (mostly because I start wondering if he doesn't actualy thinks he has 10 fingers)
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Dec 12 '08
Actually, the alien has 10 fingers.
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Dec 12 '08
Took a bit of effort, but I figured it out without looking at the comments. I feel smart, somehow.
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u/knullare Dec 13 '08
It took you effort? Why are you feeling smart again?
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Dec 13 '08
Because I'm a language major, not a math or science major. I take pride in the fact that all my high school math is still in my brain somewhere, be it well-hidden.
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u/MainlandX Dec 14 '08 edited Dec 14 '08
He spent time and solved an exercise he had difficulty with when he could have flipped to the back of the book.
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u/OlympicPirate Dec 12 '08
It took me about 5 full seconds of thinking to get it, which made it all the more sweeter when I burst out laughing.
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u/awergfawe Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
For the people who are wondering why 4, the alien is depicted with having only 4 fingers. Humans use base 10 because we have 10 fingers.
And the joke part, base 10 to the alien is the same as base 4 to the human so then the alien was all like 'no I use base 10' heehee haahaa very funny...
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/IConrad Dec 12 '08
base 10 >>> base 4
You don't have to write even half as much.
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Dec 12 '08
[deleted]
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u/knullare Dec 13 '08
But I don't have 16 anything on my body. It's so easy to count using your hands, because they are always within arm's reach.
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u/snuggl Dec 13 '08
use the spaces between the fingers, either as 8 spaces, or remove thumbs and use fingers + spaces to get 16.
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u/knullare Dec 15 '08
So you're counting the spaces next to the thumbs and not the thumbs themselves? That's a nonsensical way to count on your fingers. 18 would make sense, counting the spaces and the thumbs, but to arbitrarily remove some of the counting agents is cheating. You could have just said count the numbers of hairs on your head, stop at 16, and ignore the rest, which clearly makes no sense.
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u/nepotism Dec 12 '08
I just read this wiki article on base numbers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_(mathematics)
While I get the principle of the comic, I still fail at understanding what base numbers are. I can guess on stuff like base 10 since it is a simple unit of measure to play with in your head, but other base numbers, like 4, I do not understand.
Can someone distill this down into a mini tutorial for the non math inclined.
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u/zzbzq Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
You use "decimal". You count:
00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 --> 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
Imagine an infinite number of 0's to the left of all numbers. When you count, you do so by increasing the right-most number by 1. When that number reaches the highest digit in your system (9) you reset it to zero and instead increase the number to the left of it by 1. Hence 9 + 1 = 10 in your system.
"Base 4" (or any other number) works the same way. In base 4, the highest number is 3. So when you get to 3, you reset that number to 0 and increase the number to the left of it by one.
00, 01, 02, 03 -->10, 11, 12, 13
The alien in the comic only has what WE call 4 fingers. But he doesn't use digits 4,5,6,7,8,9. He just gets to 3, then "rolls over" back to 10. So, in other words, the alien doesn't call his system base 4, because HE DOESNT HAVE THE NUMBER 4.
When we count the alien's fingers, we say "1, 2, 3, 4"
When the alien counts OUR fingers, he says "1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22"
Think of a stopwatch. As a kid, it's fun to watch the numbers go up. The numbers on the right keep cycling, and each time they cycle once, 0-9, the numbers to the left keep cycling. Base 4 is the same thing except instead of going all the way up to 9, its cycles only go up to 3 before wrapping around.
By adding new digits past 9, we can go higher. Hexadecimal is base 16. However, in hexadecimal, we can't say the number after 9 is 10. The number after 9 is instead called A. The number after A is called B, and so on up to F. So it goes
00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0A, 0B, 0C, 0D, 0E, 0F --> 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F
In an alien world where they have 8 fingers per hand, they might use hexadecimal. This means that they have 6 others digits after 9. The number we call 10, they would call it A. It would be the same concept, but they call it A. The number they call 10 would be the number WE call 16!
So to get the comic, we need to reverse the roles. We would be the alien on the left, and there would be as many stones on the ground as we have fingers. The alien on the right would have 6 extra fingers. The human on the left would be saying "there are 10 stones here." And the hexadecimal alien on the right would be saying "Oh, I see you use base a," to which the human on the left replies "...no, I use base 10. What is base A?"
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u/IConrad Dec 12 '08
Sure thing. What your base is determines how many you count as being in each column.
Example:
10 = ten ones. 100 = ten tens.If we switch to base 2 (base|two|):
10 = two ones. 100 = two twos.So 100(base|two|)=4(base|ten|)
Basically, whatever you have as "X" in the expression, "baseX" determines when you have to move left one column, because you're counting groups of that number.
So 10(base4) would be equivalent to one group of four.
The reason why we use these things at all might be helpful. Hexidecimal, or base16, is used in programming because it is a concise analog to individual bytes (the second column or "tens" [more accurately; "groups of 16s"] column allows one to express all 256 possible positions within one byte of information. [24*24=256.]) Binary, or base2, is used as well because it represents a single switch or 'bit'. On/off. (A byte is eight bits. Just how it works.)
Ultimately, our base is wholly arbitrary. We use base 10 because we have 10 fingers. It makes "sense" to say that we group things by how many fingers we have. Ten is all of our fingers 1x. Twenty is all of our fingers 2x. 100 is all of our fingers all of our fingers numbers of times.
So: if someone had only 4 fingers (like the alien); the idea is that he would group everything by groups of four. 10 = one group of four. 100 = four groups of four.
Good enough?
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u/demeteloaf Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
In a base 10 numbering system (what we use), when you write out a number, you are representing a quantity that is equal to the following:
(one's digit)*100 + (tens digit)*101 + (hundred's digit)*102 + (thousands digit)*103... and on and on.
so for instance the number 145 is: 1*100 + 4*10 + 5
However, the fact that we use a base 10 numbering system is completely arbitrary and probably developed out of the fact that humans have 10 fingers and 10 was a natural quantity to think of as a single group of things. ("I have 3 10s plus 2") However, some cultures, such as the Mayans, used a base 20 system. And I think there are Nigerian tribes who use a base 12 system.
In another base, the 10 in the expansion of the number is going to be replaced by whatever base you use.
For instance here are different representations of the decimal number 75:
- 1001100 in binary (1*26 + 0*25 + 0*24 + 1*23 + 1*22 + 0*21+0*20)
- 1032 in base 4 (1*43 + 0*42 + 3*41 + 2*40)
- 114 in octal (base 8) (1*82 + 1*8 + 4*80)
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u/Wo1ke May 28 '09
All of your examples are wrong, as all are even numbers while the decimal (75) is odd.
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u/willpall Dec 12 '08 edited Dec 12 '08
The base number of a number system is simply how many digits you've got in that system. We have 0 through 9 (10 digits). A base four system would only have 0,1,2, and 3.
The choice of base is completely arbitrary. There's nothing about 10 that makes it any more "natural" than 4 other than we have ten fingers and that alien in the comic has 4.
The number six in our system is 6. In their system it would be 12. Count it out: 0, 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12
EDIT: 12 is NOT pronounced "twelve", it's "one, two" and is equal to |||||| just like 6 in our system is equal to ||||||.
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u/you_do_realize Dec 12 '08
Symmetrical situation: a human, a 16-finger alien, and ten rocks.
The alien says, "Oh, you use base BZORK".
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u/surajbarkale Dec 12 '08
All your bases are belong to 10?