

An Argument for Dozenalism - ecommercematt
http://hexnet.org/library/hexnet/dozenal

======
jimfl
In the short story "Tlön, Uqbar, and the Orbis Tertius," Borges writes about a
short discussion of base 12, which he calls (at least in translation)
duodecimal. This is interwoven with a discussion of the 1001 nights, which I
found odd, so I wondered what 1001 base 12 was.

It turns out to be a rather unremarkable number: 1729.

Given the time that the story was published, it is possible that Borges, who
was fascinated by mathematics and always encoding maths concepts into his
stories, had read the anecdote about the Hardy-Ramanujan number, and hid it
purposefully in the story.

Edit: anyone interested in reading more about how Borges incorporated
mathematics into his stories might find this book worthwhile

[http://www.amazon.com/Unimaginable-Mathematics-Borges-
Librar...](http://www.amazon.com/Unimaginable-Mathematics-Borges-Library-
Babel/dp/0195334574)

------
jacquesm
April fools day was a while ago.

"What is ultimately and urgently needed, then, is a dozenalization of the SI
base units of the metric system."

Right. And that after calling 'decimal time' a limit case of absurdity by
decimalist agitators ? (iirc it was just a marketing stunt by swatch).

What's this then, a limit case of absurdity by duodecimalist agitators ?

It's funny, but nobody in their right mind is going to switch to base 12 any
time soon.

Hard to tell if these guys are serious:
<http://www.dozenal.org/index.php?u=31>

I hereby propose we switch to base 11, prime numbers are so much more
interesting than all these composites.

~~~
btilly
_Right. And that after calling 'decimal time' a limit case of absurdity by
decimalist agitators ? (iirc it was just a marketing stunt by swatch)._

You need to read more closely. The article claimed that decimal time was an
excess of the French Revolution. The French revolution was over 200 years ago,
which predates anything in your memory by quite a bit. And indeed,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time> verifies that during the French
Revolution, when the metric system was invented, the French also tried to
introduce decimal time.

This was the same time period that they tried to decimalize the quarter
circle, resulting in a measurement system with 400 gradians in the circle.

And yes, it is accurate to call this a limit case of absurdity.

As for the article itself, it is impossible to say how serious it is. It is
true that everyone accepts that it would be a lot of work to switch to a
dozenal system. However it is absolutely true that a dozenal system would be
much more convenient.

~~~
hugh3
_However it is absolutely true that a dozenal system would be much more
convenient._

How is that, exactly? Even once we've solved the problem of convincing
everybody on Earth that it's a good idea, _and_ the other problem of going
back and burning and reprinting every existing book, newspaper, film and
inscription so that nobody need ever face the confusion of having to translate
back and forth between old decimal and new dozenal numbers, what's the big
upside again? That we no longer have to say "a third of a kilogram" and can
just say "400 grams"?

~~~
btilly
That is one upside. Another is that the times table is much simpler to
memorize. Another is that when storing round numbers of things, it is more
likely that we'll have convenient packings. Another is that a dozenal based
measurement system is convenient enough in enough places to justify using
dozenal based time and angle measurements, making for easier conversions. (For
instance in the metric system it is sometimes convenient to think in terms of
km/hour and other times m/s. Converting between the two is a PITA. Using
dozenal everywhere would make that conversion entirely unnecessary.)

There are many small details, but every one you compare finds conveniences for
the dozenal system that aren't there for the decimal one.

However it is clear that the wins aren't nearly enough to justify the
transition in any reasonable time frame. Which is why the dozenal movement is
bound to remain an amusing curiousity.

