What If We Counted in Twelves?

Science · Published

What If We Counted in Twelves? · 1:28 · Intellect Plus

In short: A thought experiment on base 12: what the arithmetic of twelve would gain and lose, how other cultures counted, and why the reason we count in tens is still debated.

A 1:28 short film in the series “From Fingers to Qubits”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.

Sources used in this film: MacTutor History of Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews (Ian G Pearce, 'Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance'), “Decimal numeration and the place-value system”; University of Florida, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (faculty web page, web.mae.ufl.edu/uhk), “Microsoft Word - DECIMAL-SYSTEM.doc”; Elsevier (Cognition journal, ScienceDirect); article by Andrea Bender and Sieghard Beller, August 2012, “Nature and culture of finger counting: Diversity and representational effects of an embodied cognitive tool”; Elsevier B.V. (Acta Psychologica, ScienceDirect), “Cultural similarities and specificities of finger counting and montring: Evidence from Amazon Tsimane' people”; Smithsonian National Museum of American History, “Replica of a Babylonian Clay Tablet - Plimpton 322”; MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews, “Babylonian numerals”; Encyclopedia.com (article by Floyd G. Lounsbury), “Maya Numeration, Computation, and Calendrical Astronomy | Encyclopedia.com”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Vigesimal number system | mathematics | Britannica”; East Tennessee State University (course notes by R. Gardner on Dudley's Elementary Number Theory), “Dudley-Section-14.pdf”; Dozenal Society of America (article by Michael deVlieger), “Key Dozenal Fractions | Michael deVlieger”; The Guardian (Alex Bellos's Adventures in Numberland), “Dozenalists of the world unite! Rise up against the tyranny of ten!”; The Dozenal Society of America (DSA), an advocacy group that promotes base twelve; page presents Donald P. Goodman III's book 'Basic Arithmetic' (2016), “Basic Dozenal Arithmetic | Donald P. Goodman III”; Intertextual Hub (ARTFL Project, University of Chicago), reproducing a French National Convention decree of 18 Germinal Year III (7 April 1795), “intertextual-hub”; UNESCO Memory of the World Register (nomination by the Centre historique des Archives nationales, France), “MEMORY OF THE WORLD REGISTER”; The Royal Mint Museum, “Pounds, Shillings and Pence”; Drexel University, Department of Mathematics (EDUC 525 course project page, 'The Converter Box'), “EDUC 525 - The Converter Box”; Psychological Review (American Psychological Association); paper by researchers at the University of California Berkeley and MIT, hosted by Berkeley's colala lab, “oshaughnessy2021cultural.pdf”.

Sources used in this film

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