Re: Base 8 counting in Gevey

Muke Tever wrote:
>From: "Andreas Johansson" <and_yo@...>
> > Rik Roots wrote:
> > >
> > >Gevey, like most other Vreski family languages, uses a base 10 number
> > >system. However, all other languages on the continent use a base 8
> > >system. Now as Gevey is a widespread trading language, it needs to be
> > >able to count in base 8 as well as base 10.
> >
> > Is there a "reason" for base 8? I don't know any real-world language
>that
> > uses it (octal numbers in compsci don't count!), and unlike base 10 or
>base
> > 20 I can't think of any obvious conection to countable appendages etc.
>
>Oh sure.
>
>Counting is done by touching the thumb to the fingertips.  Thenceforth you
>only have four fingers to count with on each hand.
Of course, base 6 is the truly natural one - the fingers on the right hand
are the units, the ones on the left one are the sixes, the toes the
thirty-sixes and the two-hundred-and-sixteens ...

                                                Andreas


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp