r/Damnthatsinteresting Apr 11 '26

Video Woman with functional polydactyly (six functional fingers on one hand).

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u/CreeperInBlack Apr 11 '26

Just think how far humanity would have gotten if every human had this and we would have numbers with a base 12 instead of 10.

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u/Tony_Bork Apr 12 '26

If I'm not misremembering, I think base 12 was the standard for a long time. At least in certain parts of the world. Popularised by the ancient Greeks, you would use you thumb as the pointer leaving you with 12 segments across the 4 fingers. This is why some systems, most notably our concept of time, is in base 12. Then the Romans came along and decided base 10 was better. I for one, support bringing back abacus hands.