Alternative Number System: Difference between revisions

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== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', the elves use base 8 because of their [[Four-Fingered Hands]] ~~-- that~~ page has more details.

* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', the elves use base 8 because of their [[Four-Fingered Hands]]—that page has more details.

== [[Fanfic]] ==

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* Zamonien in [[Walter Moers]]' novels uses base 8. The author even created new symbols for the numbers.

* In the ''[[Fighting Fantasy]]'' book ''Rebel Planet'', the two-fingered Arcadians count in binary. Converting binary to decimal is necessary to solve a couple of puzzles, though the reader is fortunately provided with a handy grid.

* Centaurians in ''[[The Pentagon War]]'' have 4 tentacle-fingers on each of 4 hands. When a Centaurian named Torra Zorra reads that a cable's diameter is 3 x 10<sup>-5</sup> meters, we get this parenthetical aside:

* Centaurians in ''[[The Pentagon War]]'' have 4 tentacle-fingers on each of 4 hands. When a Centaurian named Torra Zorra reads that a cable's diameter is 3 x 10<sup>−5</sup> meters, we get this parenthetical aside:

{{quote|(Curse the human penchant for powers of ten! Torra always had to mentally convert their numbers to base sixteen, just to get a handle on them.)}}

* The Megarites of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe use base 8, according to [[Star Trek: Ex Machina]].

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* In [[The Frantics]]' sketch [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFaKD9BuOc "Roman Numerals"] a Roman citizen is baffled by the new decimal system.

{{quote|Customer: How much is "forty-four" in real numbers?

Shopkeeper: XLIV <ref>pronounced "ex-ell-eye-vee"</ref>.

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 Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', the [[Meaningful Name|Bynars]] use base 2.

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In ''[[Traveller]]'', the various alien species use different base mathematics. The Aslan use Base 8, the Hivers use Base 16, and the Droyne use Base 6. Most of the various [[Human Alien~~|Human Aliens~~]], as well as the Vargr, use Base 10.

* In ''[[Traveller]]'', the various alien species use different base mathematics. The Aslan use Base 8, the Hivers use Base 16, and the Droyne use Base 6. Most of the various [[Human Alien]]s, as well as the Vargr, use Base 10.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* 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~~|Arc Numbers~~]].

* 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'', [[G La DOS]] gives this line after taking a missile hit:

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* Vestiges of base 12 remain in English and German.

** Base 12 is a rather elegant base to use (especially for fractions), since it is the smallest number which is evenly divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6 (base 10, by contrast, is only divisible by 2 and 5). The Babylonian base 60 system actually consists of 5 sets of 12 (allowing division by 5 in addition to the others).

* Vestiges of base 20 remain in English ("four score years and ten ago") and French ("quatre-vingts"<ref>4*20=80</ref>, also in the name of the Parisian hospital ''Quinze-Vingts''<ref>15*20</ref> which was originally founded to house 300 patients).

* Vestiges of base 20 remain in English ("four score years and ten ago") and French ("quatre-vingts",<ref>4*20=80</ref> also in the name of the Parisian hospital ''Quinze-Vingts''<ref>15*20</ref> which was originally founded to house 300 patients).