Re: measuring systems (was: Selenites)

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Charles <catty@...>
Fecha: Lunes 28 de Septiembre de 1998 00:50
Asunto: Re: measuring systems (was: Selenites)


>Simon Kissane wrote:
>
>> why not use factorial numbers (1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, 5040, etc.)? Every
>> number from 1 to 5 divides into 120, so a 120 day year can be divided
>> into half, thirds, quaters and fifths.
>
>Base 60 is evenly divisible (factorable) by 1 thru 6.
>Base 30 is almost as good and can match up with
>an alphabet of reasonable size. I'm wondering if
>base 12 or 6 or 20 have special conlang properties,
>useful enough so as to challenge base 10?
>
If we remember we use base ten because we have ten fingers.  If I'm not
mistaken greeks used a base five system fromwhere the word "count" comes
from, five is the number of fingers in one hand.  Mayans used a base twenty
system if we include fingers and toes.  So, for human languages a base
5/10/20 system is natural.  (Mayans divided year in 18 months of 20 days
each, plus five days and a complex system of lap years, more acurate, as
longer as I know, than the gregorian system.)

For some of my projects I was thinking about a combined base ten/base
sixteen system.  The base ten system where divided in power of
thousand/power of million system for large numbers as common in west
cultures and science.  The base sixteen system used a different aproach for
grouping in powers of powers of two: base sixteen were thought as a way to
interact whith computers from nibbles (one hex digit), bytes (two hex
digits), words (4 hex digits), dwords (8 hex digits), qwords and so on.
So, for a race of robots or for a very sophisticated language for comp
geeks?

The natural counting system doesn't mean a natural division system.  Four
seasons of three months each (besides one month almost equal one moon phase
period) is a very convenient count.

So, some ideas:

divide by:  -> then use
2, 3 -> 6
2, 3, 4 -> 12, besides 6
2, 3, 5 -> 30, besides 6, 10, 15
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 -> 60, besides 10, 12, 15, 20, 30
2, 4, 8 -> 8, 16
2, 4, 7, 13 -> 364, besides 14, 26, 28, 52, ... (add a new year holliday and
you have a year divided in 13 months, each one with four 7 days week, or
four seasons of 13 weeks each)

If you pretend to divide the year:
365.25 = two periods of 182 days + 1 or 2 days
       = three periods of 121 days + 2 or 3 days, for ease: three 120 days
periods + 5 or 6 days
       = four periods of 91 days + 1 or 2 days
       = five periods of 73 days + one lap day every forth year.
       = six periods of 60 days + 5 ot 6 days
       = seven periods of 52 days + 1 or 2 days
       = eight periods of 45 days + 5 or 6 days
       = nine periods of 40 days + 5 or 6 days
       = ten periods of 36 days + 5 or 6 days
       = eleven periods of 33 days + 2 or 3 days (a race with 11 fingers, 11
months, each one divided in three 11 days weeks).
       = twelve periods of 30 days + 5 or 6 days
       = thirteen periods of 28 days + 1 or 2 days
       = forteen periods of 26 days + 1 or 2 days.
etc.

-- Carlos Th