How does counting in this system work and what are some advantages of counting that way as opposed to base 10?
In: Mathematics
Base 6 means that you use 6 digits (0 – 5), and that each place value represents a power of 6. So:
* “4” converted to base 10 would be: Four 6^(0) = Four 1s = 4.
* “12” converted to base 10 would be: One 6^(1) + two 6^(0) = One 6 + two 1s = 6 + 2 = 8
* “345” converted to base 10 would be: Three 6^(2) + four 6^(1) + five 6^(0) = Three 36s + four 6s + five 1s = 108 + 24 + 5 = 136.
Advantage of using base 6? I have no idea.
Usually counting in base 2, 8, or 16 are beneficial for computer science.
Counting works similar to base ten… when you get one more than the base number minus 1 you carry the digit.
Example in base 10: when you get to 9 the very next number carries the one and you get 10
9 + 1 = 10
in base 2:
1 + 1 = 10
in base 8
7 + 1 = 10
in base 16:
F + 1 = 10
https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/bases.html
Use the powers of the base to see what each digit means. See the link.
In bases under 10 you can count on your fingers if you imagine only having that number of fingers minus one.
6 and 12 both have incredible benefits when bartering and trading because of how many ways they are dividable. That’s the only benefit I’ve ever heard brought to base 6 or 12.
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, etc.
It’s just a different way of counting. Obviously, numbers will become “larger” faster than a decimal system, and math won’t be as “intuitive” since everyone is trained on decimal.
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