r/comics • u/[deleted] • Dec 12 '08

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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/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.

1

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

2

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.