On 2007-11-12, cr88192 <cr88192@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> "Marco van de Voort" <marcov@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:slrnfjg6pc.2k8r.marcov@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> binary (although afaik base 10, followed by 12 are most common for
>>> counting
>>> and measuring tasks).
>>
>>> it is odd then that we tend to assume that decimal and infix are most
>>> 'natural'...
>>
>> Not that big a mystery, before they are trained, most people naturally
>> count
>> on their fingers, and we have 10 of them. Sounds pretty natural to me.
>>
>
> for counting yes. but is it not at least plausible, that people would
use
> one system for counting, and another for when doing multiplication?...
>
> at least from what I had heard, this has happened in at least a few
> cultures.
>
>
>> 12 has been of explained as the ideal base for people selling small
>> quantities on a market. The main reason is the relative high number of
>> divisors (2,3,4,6). Note that in medieval times, fractions were "higher
>> math", and in early medieval time they were still using Roman numbers,
>> instead of the Arabic ones we still use today.
>>
>> And be careful assuming that "12" is a normal base. Sure, all European
>> cultures have "a dozen", but a lot of pre-SI unit and calculation
systems
>> derive from the Romans (and probably before them Greeks and maybe other
>> cultures
>> present in the Antique Mediterranee: Egyptians,Perzians,Phoenicians ),
so
>> it
>> could be based on only one source.
>>
>
> possibly...
>
>
>> Iirc the Maya's had a base 20 system, at least for their dates.
>> (10 digits+ 10 toes ?)
>>
>> I don't know how mathematical notation was before the Arabic system
>> entered,
>> but there is a third common method, except for postfix, and infix, and
>> most
>> of us learn it in school.
>>
>> 12
>> 6
>> --- -
>> 6
>>
>> I'd give that notation the best chance in medieval times :-)
>
> yeah.
>
> however, we need not forget prefix (there are a few programming
languages
> that use this).
>
> so: infix, postfix, prefix, and vertical.
>
> of these, IMO postfix and infix have the most merit (in general), but
prefix
> makes a whole lot of sense in certain situations.
>
>
> or such...
>
>
>
|
