Should we count in 12s rather than 10s? | BBC Ideas

Is there a better way to count? We use a decimal system - based on the number 10, but some people think it would be easier to live in a dozenal world. Here is the case for counting in 12s.
This video was made by Angel Sharp Media.

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[tryxdc]

*Non Mathsy Person* *Mathsy Person*



Where is our grammarsy people?

[lagerku.]

I wouldn't have minded the metric as much, if it had been in base-12, so things were better to fraction.

If the metric system _had_ used base-12, we probably would have metric measurements for time.
1;0 day is 24 hours.
0;1 (¹/¹² of a day) is 2 hours.
0;01 (¹/¹⁴⁴ of a day) is 10 minutes.
0;001 (¹/¹⁷²⁸ of a day) 4.16 seconds.

[kadenvanciel]

3:25 360s? 60 squared is 3600! Get it right next time!

[CryptoGreedyMonster]

Geometry needs base count 8 or 12. Because you can't you base count 10 to equally split a circle into 4 parts like North South East and west. The 4 directions is needed in geometry.

[anneeq]

Duodecimal may have its origin in sub Saharan Africa. It's a very intriguing system 🤔

[khadijaahmed]

U know it would be really grt if the music was a bit low . Kind of hard to focus on the matter with the loud sounds in the background.

[JoeMamaJunk]

Lets just use base two, keep things nice and simple

[Primordial_Synapse]

Perhaps abandoning the old £sd system wasn't such a great idea.

[jamesworley]

We should be using a base 120 with a subbase of 12. PERIOD.

[willpoundstone]

It is definitely a better system. But let's keep in mind the sheer difficulty in changing over: every single electronic database on earth would have to be updated simultaneously: bank balances, tax records, college transcripts, criminal records etc. And every adult would suddenly find themselves less skilled at math than their 6 year old children, forced to rely on calculators to figure out the total combined cost of items that cost $6 and $19. And how would you know if any number you came across was from the decimal era?

[mariafe]

"Base 10 is just irritating"
Are you sure? I'm pretty sure base 12 is more irritating.
1/5 in dozenal is 0.(2497) oh god

[RHN_MSc]

If you look at your fingers you'll notice that you have two creases between each of your four fingers. This splits each finger into 3 parts. This means you're able to count to 12 on your fingers because 3 parts per finger and you have 4 fingers equals 12 parts. So yes, you can count base 12 on your fingers

[peacehope]

I far prefer base 12. It's neater. I've got OCD and base 10 actually distresses me!

[davidjones-vxju]

hey smart guys ...show me 347 times .023 in base 12

[michaelbaker]

Dozenal it's king. It's so much better than decimal

[chrisg]

OK so it might be more convenient to divide and multiply in the the dozenal system, but does it follow that it's more convenient to 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 in 12s? And why did we ever count in 10s? Was it just because of fingers?

I suggest we could have started off with a cross hair grid, like a big + sign and put counters in one or more of the four quadrants to represent different quantities. So beginning with a counter at the top left, that's 1. Top right is 2. Bottom right is 3, bottom left is 4. Two counters, bottom left and top left represents 5. And so on. When each quadrant has just one counter that's 10, because 1+2+3+4=10. That's what's cool about 10, and doesn't happen with 12.

[HR-QarabagAzrbaycandr]

Base 10 is unstable, because 1/3 = so we use base 12 instead.

[dara_]

if we use 32 numerals ... 🙄 does that make it a language 😂

[meredithr]

What? No, then the metric system would make no sense. And as an American, I can assure you some of us would never shut up about that. Ever.