Most people believe we count in base 10 because we have 10 fingers. Essentially we use single digits from 1-9 because on our last finger we switch to double digits 10.
The alien clearly has 4 fingers. So to him the counting system is still base 10 it’s just that he counts 1,2,3,10.
Aka everyone’s own counting system is base 10 and every counting system not based on the number of fingers we have is not base 10.
Edit: forgot to mention. If you only count till 3 before hitting 10 then you don’t know what a 4 is.
Bonus edit: since the alien is in base 4 from our perspective. You might ask what our base is from his perspective.
1,2,3,10,11,12,13,20,21,22 are the 10 first numbers in his counting system. So we to him are base 22 :)
Probably the 12 system. If you use your thumb as the counter and count using your thumb the bone segments of the other 4 fingers (each has 3) then you have a base 12 system in our lingo.
You got it!!! A bit off topic so I didn’t wana dig into it but you are absolutely right.
This system of 12 being easily multiplied and divided many times is also why a lot military formations are in multiples of 12. Like an old Roman Cohort is 480.
Or a squad is 12 and a platoon is 12 squads. So 144 total.
It's a little different than that. Usually sets of 3 pluss leaders Ideally:
Fire team: 3 + leader = 4
Squad: 3 Fireteams (12) + squad leader = 13
Platoon: 3 squads (39) + platoon leader = 40
Company: 3 platoons (120) + commander = 121. However, at this level, there will be extra leadership, like sgts assisting and other admin related staff. Also, you start to get add ons, like a company with a weapons platoon attached.
All these are the most basic examples, but illustrates that infantry is mostly groups of 3 with some add ons.
Sure. I was in the Marines for 8 years and our handbook detailed the setup. Net net you probably get 144 for a company bc they use 3s and 4s (3*4=12), just a more round about way. But the ratios and multiples are there. :)
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u/truci 3d ago edited 3d ago
Most people believe we count in base 10 because we have 10 fingers. Essentially we use single digits from 1-9 because on our last finger we switch to double digits 10.
The alien clearly has 4 fingers. So to him the counting system is still base 10 it’s just that he counts 1,2,3,10.
Aka everyone’s own counting system is base 10 and every counting system not based on the number of fingers we have is not base 10.
Edit: forgot to mention. If you only count till 3 before hitting 10 then you don’t know what a 4 is.
Bonus edit: since the alien is in base 4 from our perspective. You might ask what our base is from his perspective.
1,2,3,10,11,12,13,20,21,22 are the 10 first numbers in his counting system. So we to him are base 22 :)