Talks to Watch

Base 12 - Numberphile

2.3M views · Dec 12, 2012 · 9:12 · 1 HN recommender · 3 mentions · discussed 2013–2020

Numberphile's James Grime makes the case for base 12 (dozenal) over base 10, showing how twelve's many divisors make arithmetic and everyday fractions easier.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN uses it as the accessible overview of the dozenal system whenever base 12 or the 12 times table comes up.

“I suggest anyone reading this to also watch this video”HN comment, 2016

What Hacker News said 3

RecommendsrezashirazianJan 2016

“I suggest anyone reading this to also watch this video”

Numberphile on the merits of base 12

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I came here for this. I am disappointed it is only the third response. I suggest anyone reading this to also watch this video this video

in “Is there any point to the 12 times table?” · view on HN
Cites itsnarfyDec 2013

“This reminds me of the duodecimal system”

Case for base 12 over base 10

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This reminds me of the duodecimal system: this video Mathematically, 10 is a pretty arbitrary choice to base your number system on. We would have been better off learning base 12 than inventing metric.

in “Show HN: A small (less than 2 kb) CSS framework” · view on HN
Cites itTistronMay 2020

“Numberphile on the dozenal system”

Overview of the dozenal system

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It's simple enough to Google "etymology eleven" to see that it is a base 10 word. Modern proponents of a dozenal system seem to prefer the words "el" and "doz" for eleven and twelve. I would totally be in for changing, but realistically it'll never happen. Numberphile on the dozenal system: this video