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Alternative Number System: Difference between revisions

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== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'' the Psychlos use a base-11 system.
* [[All There in the Manual|Behind-the-scenes material]] on ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'' claims that the Na'vi also use base 8 for the same reason as the ''[[Elf Quest]]'' elves.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', the Hutts use a base 8 system due to only having four fingers on each hand. Being Hutts, they don't always tell this to their business partners, most of whom use base 10.
* In the ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' books, trolls apparently have a "base Many" system (actually base four). As in, "one, two, three, many, many-one, many-two...
* A subversion: When [[Douglas Adams]] revealed that the question which produced the Ultimate Answer [[The HitchhikersHitchhiker's Guide to Thethe Galaxy|(42)]] was {{spoiler|What is six times nine?}}, somebody pointed out that the math actually did add up, using base 13. Adams responded, "[[Self-Deprecation|I may be a sad individual]], but I don't make jokes in base 13."
* According to the appendices of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|The Lord of the Rings]]'', elves habitually count in base 12.
* The ''gukuy'' in [[Eric Flint]]'s ''Mother of Demons'' count using an eight-base system.
* It's never mentioned in the books themselves, or the series, but the "Gallifreyan numerals" used on the spines and chapter headings of the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' New Series Adventures (9th and 10th Doctors) are in base 7.
* In Leo Frankowski's ''[[The Cross Time Engineer (Literature)|The Cross Time Engineer]]'' series, the new civilization Conrad Stargard starts up in Medieval Europe uses base 12 mathematics, because Stargard believes it's "more accurate" than decimal mathematics.
** Not so much more "accurate" as more useful. Bulk goods are bought and sold in dozens and grosses. 12 factors into 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is far easier to cut a cake/pie into 12 pieces than ten without involving a protractor.
* In ''Learning the World'' by [[Ken MacLeod]], the aliens are four-fingered, and count in base 8. When they learn that humans use base 10, their reaction is that having a base that isn't a power of two must be awfully inconvenient.
* In ''[[AZones Fireof Upon the Deep (Literature)Thought|A Fire Upon the Deep]]'' by [[Vernor Vinge]], the doglike Tines have two different number systems: one where they count "by legs" (in base 4) and one where they count "by fore-claws" (in base 10). Confusion between these two systems leads to the accidental meeting of two of the major characters. Amdiranifani is housed in room 33, Jefri is supposed to be imprisoned in room 15 (33 in base 4), and the guard who's taking him there uses the wrong numbering system.
* On [[Gor]], the alien species the Kurii use base-12, presumably because they have 12 digits on their "hands."
* ''[[Little Fuzzy]]'', a series begun by [[H. Beam Piper]], uses a modified form of base 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, one hand. At 125, they've reached a hand of hands. It then goes to many, and many many. The fuzzies soon adopt the human's base 10 system.
* [[Larry Niven]] and Jerry Pournelle's ''[[The Mote in GodsGod's Eye]]''. The Moties have a total of 12 digits on their right hands and use base 12.
* 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 A Strange Land]]'', the Martians apparently have a numerical system based on three and powers of three. "Three fulfilled," they call it...
* [[All There in the Manual|According to]] ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|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.
* In ''[[Contact (Literature)|Contact]]'', a message is encoded in base 11, by someone or something capable of messing with the values of mathematical constants.
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* In ''The Iron Standard'' by [[Henry Kuttner]], the six-fingered Venusians use base-12.
* ''[[Out of the Dark]]'' gives us the Shongairi, who count in base-twelve. Possibly.
* Zamonien in [[Walter Moers (Creator)|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 (Literature)|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 (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' universe use base 8, according to [[Star Trek Ex Machina]].
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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Shopkeeper: XLIV <ref>pronounced "ex-ell-eye-vee"</ref>.<br />
Customer: Well why don't you just '''say''' XLIV? Who can remember "forty-four?" }}
* In ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', the [[Meaningful Name|Bynars]] use base 2.
* 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.
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== [[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]].
* The aliens in ''[[Iji (Video Game)|Iji]]'' use a ternary number system.
* In the final boss fight in ''Portal'', [[G La DOS]] gives this line after taking a missile hit:
{{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.
* The Kilrathi from ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]]'' use Base 8 for their numbering system, given that they have a total of eight fingers. For the most part this isn't really mentioned much, but it's prominent in the dates for history of the Kilrathi war from their viewpoint as done in the manual for ''Armada'', "Voices of War".
* ''[[Halo]]'' fans speculate that the Forerunners might have counted using a Base-7 counting system.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Housepets (Webcomic)|Housepets]]'', a mouse named Spo came from a very large family. How large? The sibling born immediately after him [http://www.housepetscomic.com/2009/02/23/their-naming-conventions-had-a-cover-charge/ was named Spp]...
* In ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]''' world of [[Mad Scientist|mad science]] there's bound to be examples showing up: "Tell the landlord that he is to stop trying to make change in base eight, or he'll pay his taxes in base twelve."
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'', robots sometimes use base 2.
* The ''[[School HouseSchoolhouse Rock]]'' music video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QpbO4MIAVE "Little Twelvetoes"] briefly touches on the idea of what counting with a base-twelve system would be like, and demonstrates with the titular twelve-fingered alien character.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
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