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Alternative Number System: Difference between revisions
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This sort of thing is generally used as an insignificant [[Genius Bonus|throwaway joke]], as it may be a [[Viewers Are Geniuses|difficult concept]] for some viewers to grasp.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', the elves use base 8 because of their [[Four-Fingered Hands]]—that page has more details.
== [[
* [[Aeon Natum Engel]]: The narration from the [[Cthulhu Tech|Migou]] POV and their dialogue goes to great lengths to convey their alien thought processes, including a base-36 numbering system.
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* The Kzinti of [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' count in base eight.
* ''[[The Culture]]'' uses a nonary (base nine, that is) system.
* In ''[[Stranger in
* [[All There in the Manual|According to]] ''[[Star Trek|The Klingon Dictionary]]'', the Klingons used to count in a trinary (base-three) system, but have since switched over to decimal.
* In ''Footfall'', the Fithp use base 8.
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Shopkeeper: XLIV.<ref>pronounced "ex-ell-eye-vee"</ref>
Customer: Well why don't you just '''say''' XLIV? Who can remember "forty-four?" }}
* In ''[[Star Trek: The
* The Minbari in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' use base eleven (a byproduct of using fingers, toes, and the head as "digits" for counting.)
** According to tie-in RPG materials, the Dilgar used base 25.
== [[Music]] ==
* "New Math" by [[Tom Lehrer]] musically works through a math problem in the style of what was once called "The New Math" in the 1960s. When he's gotten an answer (not ''the'' answer, just ''an'' answer), he tells the audience that it's not that simple, because the problem was supposed to be solved in Base 8:
{{quote|But don't panic. Base 8 is just like Base 10, really -- if you're missing two fingers!}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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* In the ''[[Myst]]'' games, the D'ni have a base 25 system, in keeping with the games' general tendency to use powers of five as [[Arc Number]]s.
* The aliens in ''[[Iji]]'' use a ternary number system.
* In the final boss fight in ''Portal'', [[
{{quote|"Two plus two equals...ten. In base four! I'm fine!"}}
* There is a popular theory among [[Half Life]] fans that the Combine use a base-17 system, based on how [[Arc Number|prominent]] 17 seems to be. If nothing, it reinforces the [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|utterly alien]] nature of the Combine.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Alternative Number System]]▼
[[Category:Number Tropes]]
[[Category:Alien Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Alternative Number System]]
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