Re: number bases (was without subject)

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Zitzelsberger" <DavidZ@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 6:57 PM
Subject: Re: number bases (was without subject)


> Not just traditional typography (I'd be curious which langauges this was
> true), but English.
>         ten, eleven, twelve, thir-teen
> dozen   (10 in base twelve)
> gross (100 in base twelve)
>
> Any other languages with a language pre-disposition to another base?
French is somewhat pre-disposed to a base 20: 85 is said quatre-vingt-cinq
/katr@vE~sE~k/, i.e. four-twenty-five.

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Benct Philip Jonsson [mailto:bpj@MELROCH.SE]
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 2:44 AM
> To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject: Re: number bases (was without subject)
>
> Traditional typography practically worked in base twelve.
> This was much more convenient for type geometry, because
> 12 is divisible by all of 2, 3, 4, 6 and itself, while 10
> is only divisible by 2, 5 and itself.
>