From mark@kli.org Wed Sep 26 07:31:42 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: mark@kli.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2_2); 26 Sep 2001 14:30:56 -0000 Received: (qmail 28880 invoked from network); 26 Sep 2001 14:30:56 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 26 Sep 2001 14:30:56 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO n31.groups.yahoo.com) (10.1.2.220) by mta1 with SMTP; 26 Sep 2001 14:31:42 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: mark@kli.org Received: from [10.1.10.102] by hp.egroups.com with NNFMP; 26 Sep 2001 14:31:41 -0000 Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 14:31:41 -0000 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: periodic hexadecimal reminder Message-ID: <9ososd+tlgt@eGroups.com> In-Reply-To: <20010925221948.Y10550@digitalkingdom.org> User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Length: 2136 X-Mailer: eGroups Message Poster X-Originating-IP: 162.33.229.2 From: mark@kli.org --- In lojban@y..., Robin Lee Powell wrote: > On Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 01:10:24AM -0400, Invent Yourself wrote: > > On Wed, 26 Sep 2001 thinkit8@l... wrote: > > > > > this is just a post to remind everyone that hexadecimal is the > > > future, and lojban is by default hexadecimal. rafsi will be assigned > > > for dau-vai, and "ju'u dau" will be used for references to the old > > > way of doing things. > > > > > > > > What are the benefits of hex that outweigh the enormous, trillion dollar > > investment in decimal infrastructure? > > Especially since 16 isn't as divisible as either 12 or 60, and hence > could easily be argued to be inferior to both of those. > > -Robin Yes, indeed. And for extent of success to be expected from trying to change the world over to hexadecimal, please see the Dozenal Society of America, c/o Math Dept., Nassau Community College, Garden City LI, NY 11530-6793, http://www.polar.sunynassau.edu/~dozenal/ Formerly the Duodecimal Society of America, they have been trying literally for decades (and I mean no small number of those either) to convince people to forsake newfangled, clunky decimal in favor of tried-and-true, flexible and vibrant duodecimal. And they have a point, actually: base 12 is so much more divisible, it's a lot easier to work with in many situations. (Of course, they really have not all that much more than *a* point, and I keep wondering what they fill their journals with each year. I even joined it, to find out). Hexadecimal is potently inconvenient to use in most situations, unless you're a computer. Hardly anything has a terminating representation. True, it's a real lifesaver when you're doing computerish things, but that doesn't affect most people all that much (unlike computer geeks like me). The dozenal folks will be happy with Lojban; they can use {dau} and {fei} happily for their extra digits (variously written as X and E in older texts, and * and # in newer ones. They also usually suffix dozenal numbers with a semicolon, so you can tell which base they're using. Kind of like {ju'u}). ~mark