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Why 10?

0-9 are the 10 numbers that are the building blocks of all numbers. Math, its applications and its usefulness, are built upon these 10 digits.

My best guess is we humans have 10 fingers (digits) and our two hands were likely the first counting tool.

But there is no zeroth finger…so I’m curious how we figured out the most incredible building blocks and enabled the amazing tools and innovations we have today. I think I’ve heard coders say the first in a counting sequence needs to be 0 which may be the “zeroth finger”.

Maybe the thing that first made us human was a need/desire to count anything in the first place. The Big Bang of consciousness, so to speak.

#asknostr

I don’t want to Google this because fuck Google.

Anyways, good morning. Humans are fascinating. I’m behind on yard work.

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Discussion

StackinBeets 1y ago

Check out nostr:npub15vzuezfxscdamew8rwakl5u5hdxw5mh47huxgq4jf879e6cvugsqjck4um 's work on "The Number Zero and Bitcoin".

It explains a whole lot on the history of the number zero and its use.

https://archive.md/MKiM1

He also has a YouTube series on it if you prefer listening over reading.

Joe 1y ago

“Zero is a symbol for emptiness, which can be a highly useful quality—as Lao Tzu said:

“We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.” “

StackinBeets 1y ago

Awesome, I see you've checked it out! Some mindblowing stuff in there, right.

Nemo 1y ago

It’s worth considering that base-10 systems are only one of the methods of counting. Base-12, base-60 and others have existed nearly as long if not longer.

Fun fact, base 60 is still very applicable to human anatomy as well. Using your thumb, touch each segment of each finger on the same hand. 3 segments on each of 4 fingers is base 12.

Using your other hand, you can easily keep track of how many times you do this with 1 finger raised.

12 segments 5 times is 60, just using your fingers.

Joe 1y ago

Not able to zap your reply or from your profile. This is an IOU comment. 🫡

Still using the same individual numbers/symbols just in different ways.

The post-coffee pontification this morning was the realization that the 0-9 of it all makes the different methods possible and usable.

Stu 1y ago

It's hard for us to imagine, but the Pirahã of the Amazon don't even have numbers in their language.

Joe 1y ago

Will look this up, have not heard of this culture.

Stu 1y ago

This guy probably knows them better than anyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=get272FyNto

Joe 1y ago

Fascinating. “Members of the Pirahã can whistle their language, which is how Pirahã men communicate when hunting in the jungle.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_people

Bridger Surge 1y ago

Not all cultures use base 10. Some cultures are base 12 and count by the three joints on every finger (12 on each hand).

But in general, especially the western world counts in base 10 probably because of ten fingers. Peoples that didn’t use base 10 most likely had to adapt to Europeans or other cultures who did use it, and it just stuck.

There are still tons of things not using base 12 today:

Clocks are base 12 for hours and base 60 for minutes and seconds.

A dozen (eggs) is 12.

A score (years) is 20.

12 inches equals a foot, and 3 feet equals one yard.

Computers are coded in binary.

The great thing about mathematics is the fact that it doesn’t matter what base system you use, cause it’s all convertible. Digits, numbers… none of it matters as long as a mathematician knows the countable value.

Joe 1y ago

But in the different bases and methods of counting, aren’t they still using the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in different ways?

Bridger Surge 1y ago

Different cultures might have different symbols for each number. $ might equal 1, @ might equal 2… and so forth. The symbols don’t matter. The symbol 10 is comprised of a 1 and a 0 and means “Now I have this extra 1, and I’ll start counting to my limit again. When I hit that limit I will add an extra 1 and I’ll write 20”.

A base 12 system might write: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, X, T, 10. Here X is equal to the value Ten, T is equal to the value Eleven, and 10 is equal to the value Twelve.

In binary the value of Two is written as 0010 exactly for this reason: I start with 0000, I go up by one and I get 0001. If I go up once more I will overflow my limit, so I have to store that extra value to leave space for me to start again, 0010. I go up once more and get 0011. If I go up once more that will overflow my limit again, so I have to store that extra value to be able to start again, 0100. 0101, 0110, 0111, 1000…. And so forth.

The symbols do not mean anything. As long as a mathematician knows the value the base system really doesn’t matter. The different base systems and symbols are just different fonts wrapped around the same value.

Different cultures might use the same symbols 0-9 in different ways, but that doesn’t matter as long as the value is constant. A mathematician on earth and a mathematician from another galaxy would be able to communicate mathematical ideas as long as they agree on what base system to use, or what base system to convert their preexisting base systems to.

What I mean by value in all this is the sum of a set — what you get if you only count in base 1.

Value of One is equal to one 1: 1,

Two is two 1s: 11,

Three is three 1s: 111…

Ten is ten 1s: 1111111111…

Bridger Surge 1y ago

Edit: There are still tons of things not using base 10 today.