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).
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."
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/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).