An Argument For Dozenalism

By Graham
Posted by hexnet ::

Note: Writing about dozenalism always presents some semantic complications. When discussing the natural numbers up to twelve, I have opted to spell out the numbers in English, since this is a clear and base-neutral way of representing them. After trying several different systems, I have settled on writing larger numbers in decimal. Unless otherwise specified, "10" means ten, not twelve, et cetera. When I use dozenal notation, and for clarification purposes elsewhere, I have prefixed the radix as an abbreviation before the number. Thus, "dec. 360" means decimal 360, and "doz. 260" means dozenal 260. "360" by itself, unless otherwise specified, refers to the former. Larger numbers spelled out, where it is stylistically appropriate to do so, will always be given in decimal. My first inclination, of course, was to put all numbers here in dozenal, but on further reflection I see no value in confusing people needlessly. (Confusing them for a good reason though is fine.)

Babylonian sexagesimal glyphs

Posted by hexnet ::

Sexagesimal glyphs from the Babylonian numeral system of yore. Although perhaps only indirectly related to hexagons at first glance, this highly sophisticated counting system demonstrates the ancients's respect for the superior factoring abilities of multiples of 6 such as 6, 12, and 60 (doz. 6, 10, 50). Note well that the 60 numerals of the Babylonian system live on in our 60-minute hours, 60-second minutes, and 360-degree circles—the circle itself consisting of 6 "sides" of 60 units each.