On 2/3/2015 12:32 PM, LizR wrote:
On 3 February 2015 at 13:09, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au
<mailto:bhkell...@optusnet.com.au>> wrote:
LizR wrote:
I think English, French, German all start composite numbers around 13?
(Maybe a
Christian influence?)
I'm not sure you can deduce base 2 from "half-eyed" etc. And I imagine
5 was
given a different design because it makes a full hand, so to speak.
I imagine types of music that evolved would require some analysis of
how it can
be made, primitively? I guess everyone recognises that notes an octave
apart
sound "similar" (unfortunately we can't check if that's also true for
colours -
yet). Hm.
Maybe because base 12 is more sensible than base 10? The Babylonians, who
had
something to do with our numeral system, worked in base 60. Which is why we
have 360
degrees in a circle, etc.
That's a damn good point. So the fact that the teens start after 12 is a sort of tacit
admission that base 12 is more convenient (as I suppose are things like eggs coming in
dozens - not to mention "six of one, half a dozen of the other" "six of the best" etc).
Maybe the authors of the Christian story took that on board, rather than vice versa.
Numbers like 6, 12, 24, 36, 60, 360 were favored because they have lots of divisors. This
was convenient for commerce and other practical applications.
Brent
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