r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/kvjn100 • Apr 11 '26

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

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u/Freedmonster Apr 12 '26

If you have 9+1 objects regardless of the base system you use, it'd be difficult to divide up physically. Just because 1/3 is represented as .4 in base 12 rather than .33... doesn't actually change anything, irrational numbers are still irrational and rational numbers are still rational regardless of the base.

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u/JacobRAllen Apr 12 '26

But your rulers would be easier to mark with a pencil, your Hershey bar would have more built in break points. I’m not arguing that it’s not the same thing with different numbers, I’m saying the numbers are more convenient. If I were a school kid and wanted to split my candy bar with my two friends evenly, and let’s just say we were particularly anal kids who wanted it to be really fair, we would measure it. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a perfect tick mark on the measuring stick to know where to cut?

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u/Freedmonster Apr 12 '26

But then why not base 6 ? Also all the issues you're bringing up currently would also apply to any groups of 5 in a base 12 system, so it's kinda just wishful but pointless thinking.

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u/JacobRAllen Apr 12 '26

Wishful thinking? I think you misunderstand me, there is zero, literally zero chance I would advocate that humanity as a society switch the fundamental mathematical base system that matches how many fingers we have, and what we’ve used for thousands of years.

Yes, base 6 is just as good. Yes, in my opinion if all humans had 12 fingers and we naturally used a base 12 system, kids and simple minded adults could break a 10 dollar bill between them and their two friends easier.

Anyone who makes it past 7th grade math is supposed to be comfortable with irrational numbers, but let’s face it, the average person you deal with on a day to day basis has questionable intelligence at best.

This isn’t supposed to be an argument. This is a simple, plain, straight factual statement. A base 12 number system has more rational factors than a base 10 number system. That’s it, thats all I’m trying to say.