Re: measuring systems (was: Selenites)

In a message dated 9/27/98 9:43:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time, jilba@TIG.COM.AU
writes:

<< > And pure practicality.  Many buisnesses have 3 shifts for workers.  If
 > you had 10 hours/day, you'd need an unweildy 3 hours, 33 minutes, 33-1/3
 > seconds shift, or have one shift of 4 hours, and 2 of 3 hours.
 > Measuring time has a great advantage if you can easily divide it up.
 If the concern is with how many different ways you can evenly divide
 time up,
 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.

 If a conculture has a particular tendency to use a certain set of
 numbers,
 it could divide time up based on units that are all those numbers
 multiplied together (e.g. a conculture that uses 3, 5 and 7 might base
 its
 calendar on 105s).
  >>

So, which system has intrinsically superior merit, the decimal time system or
the duodecimal one?  Any mathematicians?