From cowan@ccil.org Tue May 29 19:46:59 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: cowan@mercury.ccil.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_1_3); 30 May 2001 02:46:59 -0000 Received: (qmail 8793 invoked from network); 30 May 2001 02:46:58 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by m8.onelist.org with QMQP; 30 May 2001 02:46:58 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mercury.ccil.org) (192.190.237.100) by mta1 with SMTP; 30 May 2001 02:46:57 -0000 Received: from cowan by mercury.ccil.org with local (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 154w0r-0004Vx-00; Tue, 29 May 2001 22:47:09 -0400 Subject: Re: [lojban] No number base?!? In-Reply-To: <20010529223045.B963@twcny.rr.com> from Rob Speer at "May 29, 2001 10:30:45 pm" To: rob@twcny.rr.com Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 22:47:09 -0400 (EDT) Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL66 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: X-eGroups-From: John Cowan From: John Cowan Rob Speer scripsit: > * Lojban seems designed for base 16, having the digits 0-9 _and_ A-F in > single-syllable words - so perhaps a native of Lojbanistan would naturally > count in base 16 Lojban is optimized for bases 16 or less. Larger bases are handled with pi'e. > * There are gismu for various powers of 10, but none for powers of 16 They are derived from SI prefixes. > * Is there a way to specify what base you're using outside of a mekso? ju'u > seems to be only allowed immediately after a number. You can *say* what base you are using, given a selbri for "base", like "All the digit-strings represent da in base 16". This is a *human* language, not a programming language. > * If a different base was established, would the meanings of dekto, xecto, > decti, etc. change? No. -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore --Douglas Hofstadter