You're viewing a single thread.
The metric system should be redone in base 12, and RPN should be the norm for teaching arithmetic.
I like base 12 a lot, but Reverse Polish Notation is a mess when you get up to working with polynomials.
With polynomials, you're moving around terms on either side of an equation, and you combine positive terms and negative terms. In essence, there's no such thing as subtraction. (Similarly, division is a lie; you're actually just working with numerators and denominators.)
Reverse Polish Notation makes that a mess since it separates the sign from its term.
Also, RPN draws a distinction between negative values and subtraction, but conceptually there is no subtraction with polynomials, it's all just negative terms. (Or negating a polynomial to get its additive inverse.)
But, yeah. It's a shame we don't use base 12 more.
That's super interesting. I adore RPN on caclulators and had never heard any drawbacks well-articulated.
RPN is a great way to type things into computers -- it's easier for the computer to parse, too -- but it kind of sucks for writing abstract math.
Base 16 is superior and once you learn binary math, easier to divide and multiply.
What base 12 gives you is a lot of common divisors: 2, 3, 4, and 6. Base 10 only has 2 and 5. Base 16 only has 2, 4, 8.
The practical upshot of this is that you can divide things evenly in more ways. Particularly when wanting to divide a board into thirds. Having 12 inches to a foot is actually helpful there, though it falls apart as soon as you get larger.
This is incorrect, and you don't understand why base 12 is useful. However for binary operations, hex is great. But not for general counting.
Base 16 is great when you're interacting with a computer, but aside from that, not much. Only being divisible by 2 is kind of a pain in the real world.
I'm not experienced with RPN but at a glance think there's a solid argument for it.
Both are easily countable on fingers using your thumb and counting up the segments for base 12 and adding the pads for base sixteen. You can reasonably count to 144(gross) or 256 using both hands to create a two digit dozenal or hexadecimal number.
Good points, 12 seems to be superior and I've changed my opinion.
Why base 12?
See elsewhere in the thread, but basically because of the ease of dividing whole numbers.
I've been fully on board with base 12 for years. Didn't know about RPN until this post. I'm convinced.
Base 60 was good enough the Babylonians and it's good enough for me!
RPN is a gateway to LISP
If we were supposed to use base 10, we’d have 10 figures and 10 toes!
/s
You have 12 finger joints which you can count with the thumb.
I have 2 balls so binary is more in line with my interests.
woah RPN is awesome
Yes, BIPM, this user here.