On 5 Jun 2010, at 00:04, Luke-Jr wrote:
On Friday 04 June 2010 04:45:57 pm Hans Aberg wrote:
Hexadecimal representation is only used to give a compact
representation of binary numbers in connection of computers. In view
of modern fast computers, one only needs to write out numbers when
interfacing with humans. Then one can easily make the computer write
or read what humans are used to. So there is no particular need to
switch to another base than ten if that is what humans prefer. Base
16
is easier when one for some reason needs to think about the binary
representation.
Base 16 is superior in many various ways, the most obvious being
easier
division (both visibly and numeric).
The Ethiopian binary multiplication is far simpler - it is now used in
computers. But now, the system is falling out of use, as it is easier
to let the computers do the arithmetic. (Besides, one has devised
fast, in the head, multiplication systems for base ten, as well.)
Why assume all humans prefer the same
thing? This is like assuming everyone knows the same language, uses
the same
characters, etc...
Nobody does, as there are already different systems in use. The
situation is the opposite: there is no need to promote one basis over
another as a part of a reform. Just use what is practical.
But if humans in the future would use base 16 a lot, it might be
convenient to have special symbols for them. Then the typical would
be
that glyphs becoming some alteration of A-F.
While it is natural for glyphs to change, artificial character sets
are not
unheard of. For example, Korean was designed such that each character,
representing a syllable, was composed of sub-characters representing
the
individual sounds in that syllable. Despite its unnatural origin,
numerous
people use it in their daily lives.
Anyway, Unicode just encodes actual usage, with few exceptions. If you
have some documentation, that may help your cause.
Hans
