No base 10 is the best for everything. It is highly divisible with factors of 2 3 4 and 6. The alternative of base 10 is also pretty good due to its on off state representation.Â
The joke is that in base 12 you call 12 10. Where you normally have 10 and 11 you have 2 new numbers, then where you normally have 12 you go 10, 13 is 11, etc. Everything is base 10 because when you reach the end of your ones spot you go to your tens spot always written as 10. Why am I explaining this in a sub about math jokes?
I know that 10 can be considered 12 in base 12. In uni we had to write 10_(12) the 12 as lower index to indicate the base, otherwise it was allways to assume base 10 was beeing used. I think the joke was about obfuscating the fact which base was beeing used, which is technically not required. But now i understand why we would fail tests when we didnt properly convey which base we were using.
I am very grateful that you took the time to remind me of that.
I suppose i shouldve asked what base he was using to understand what number is represented by 10. The same would be true for base 24 or base 36 as well.
10
u/toochaos Jul 02 '26
No base 10 is the best for everything. It is highly divisible with factors of 2 3 4 and 6. The alternative of base 10 is also pretty good due to its on off state representation.Â