Re: measuring systems (was: Selenites)

On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Pablo Flores wrote:

> In base ten, you have 1/10, 1/100, 1/1000, etc. These fractions are the
> basic ones to form the digits after the decimal point. But there's
> *no way* to write exactly 1/1000 = 0.001 by using a reasonable number of
> binary digits. (May a number be irrational in one base and rational in
> another one? Math teachers/students out there?).
The term "irrational" refers to a number that requires an
infinite number of digits in all (rational) bases, like "pi".
A fractional divisor that is relatively prime to the base,
like 1/3 in base 10, results in an infinitely repeating
number (0.33333 ...) which is "troublesome" but not irrational.

In base 6, dividing by 2 or 3 comes out even (i.e. 3 and 2).
In base 10, divisors 2 and 5; in base 12, it's 2, 3, 4, 6.
So if one want quarters and thirds to come out evenly,
one might use base 12 or 24 or 60. The higher the base,
the harder the multiplication table is to remember,
and the more numerals required.

So my notion is to possibly use base 12 or 6 instead of 10.