<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">On Tue, Jan 12, 2016  Stephen Van Sickle </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><<a href="mailto:sjv2006@gmail.com" target="_blank">sjv2006@gmail.com</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"> wrote:</span><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​> ​</div>And while we are at it, fix the counting system:</div><div><a href="http://www.dozenal.org/" target="_blank">http://www.dozenal.org/</a><br></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">​</span>It wouldn't be worth <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​changing the standard​</div> now but if I could go back in time a thousand years I'd push for a base 8 counting system<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​,​</div> not base 10 or 12<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​,​</div> because conversion between binary and octal is<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>really<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ ​really </div>easy.<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ ​</div>If<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>base 8 were the standard<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>the mechanical<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>problems Charles Babbage had in<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>trying to<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>build<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>his Analytical Engine would have been greatly reduced and the computer revolution might have started in the mid 19th century instead of the mid 20th.<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>Maybe<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ </div>Leibniz<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​ could have stared it even sooner in the early 18th century. </div></font></div><div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><br></div></font></div><div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="display:inline"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">At the very least third graders would be grateful that the multiplication table was easier to memorize.  </font></div></font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">​ John K Clark​</font></div><br></div><div> </div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>