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jxdxbxtoday at 12:18 PM12 repliesview on HN

The metric systems's worse flaw was doubling down on base 10 instead of the plainly superior base 12.


Replies

c048today at 12:24 PM

Only in certain fields. For most interactions divide by 10 is far easier than divide by 12, and you'd end up with far, far more "eyeballed" measurements.

So no, as a human being, I'm fine with base 10.

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fainpultoday at 12:35 PM

Obviously base 60 is superior to all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9m2jck1f90

kallebootoday at 12:32 PM

The right time to fix that mistake wasn't in metric, it was while creating our numbering system.

duskdozertoday at 12:49 PM

Base 12? That's a small number. Now base 13? 13's a big number. The biggest number, perhaps. That's what they're saying at least. Base 13, 13 colonies, now that's America.

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kstenerudtoday at 12:40 PM

The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!

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tom_today at 12:33 PM

This can make sense for currency, but units of weight and distance and so on are infinitely divisible. You can just have a third of a metre if you like. Or 333 mm if the inaccuracy is acceptable. And so on.

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vidarhtoday at 12:50 PM

Unless everyone worked in base 12 numbers too, that'd be a mess. Part of the beauty of metric is how often calculations devolve to shifting the decimal point.

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jabltoday at 12:26 PM

As long as we count in base 10, it makes sense for the unit system to also be based on base 10.

As for changing the world to counting in base 12, yes there would be some advantages, but really, good luck with that.

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altern8today at 12:55 PM

Isn't base 10 easier because you just add/remove zeros, and also we have 10 fingers to count..?

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p-e-wtoday at 12:26 PM

Being able to count using fingers is more valuable than having one more prime factor.

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atoavtoday at 12:32 PM

Consider marking it with /s next time.

unglaublichtoday at 12:37 PM

Lol sure, in no A0 years!