Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]
| From | Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| Subject | Re: strtoll discussion |
| Date | 2015-04-04 02:07 +0100 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <87iodc1z11.fsf@bsb.me.uk> (permalink) |
| References | (1 earlier) <551EE8B7.4020106@verizon.net> <mfmr6o$qbj$1@dont-email.me> <mfmtst$1e0$1@speranza.aioe.org> <a8a82f0c-a811-4cbd-bd59-4eb42c58d0c3@googlegroups.com> <mfn0dv$dh5$1@dont-email.me> |
Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> writes: > On 03/04/15 21:52, Malcolm McLean wrote: >> On Friday, April 3, 2015 at 9:41:12 PM UTC+1, glen herrmannsfeldt wrote: >>> >>> Seems to me that some years ago number bases were taught in >>> elementary school as part of "new math", but that has faded. >>> People are expected to know that computers use binary (even >>> when they don't) but not actually understand binary, or any >>> base other than ten. >>> >> We were taught them as a curiosity. We were told to solve mixed- >> base problems by converting to denary, which even at my tender >> age I thought wasn't a terribly mathematical strategy. > > The entire UK population used to be perfectly at home with bases ten, > twelve, and twenty I don't think so. They were familiar with multiplication and division by (and with remainders modulo) 12 and 20. The only number system base they knew (if they ever knew it as one) was 10. The old monetary system was not base 12. So much not base 12 that no one bothered to invent digits for 10 and 11 -- they were written in decimal (though they are of course digits none the less) -- and neither 12 shillings nor 12 nor 20 pounds had any monetary significance that I can recall. What's more, it was not uncommon to dispense with the pounds as anyone who's had a point of 80/- will recall. Counting in groups of X is not the same as using a base X number system, and I'd go further and argue that using the mixed base system of binary fractions, dozens of pennies and multiples of twenty shillings actually got in the way of understanding of the idea of a number base. (Your remark might of course be a joke, since you made a similar suggestion about weeks being "base 7," and that turned out to be a joke.) <snip> -- Ben.
Back to comp.lang.c | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread
strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-03 14:28 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 14:46 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-03 11:08 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-04-03 15:23 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 20:55 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-03 20:41 +0000
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-03 13:52 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 22:25 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-04-04 00:17 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-03 16:27 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-04-04 02:07 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-04 03:44 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 12:13 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-04-03 16:11 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-03 14:12 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-03 23:56 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-04-04 08:41 +1300
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-03 23:33 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion James Lothian <james@firstnamelastname.freeserve.co.uk> - 2015-04-03 20:51 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2015-04-03 13:09 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2015-04-03 13:16 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 21:19 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2015-04-03 13:28 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 22:29 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-03 23:33 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-03 23:34 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 22:42 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-03 15:08 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-04 00:13 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-03 23:44 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-04 00:48 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 00:03 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2015-04-03 19:31 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 00:37 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2015-04-04 10:29 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 15:54 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-04 08:07 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-04-04 16:28 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-04 08:57 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-04-04 17:03 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-04 09:44 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 18:05 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-04 23:32 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-05 11:00 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-05 13:18 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2015-04-05 17:37 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-04-05 15:00 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-04-05 22:17 -0500
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2015-04-04 18:54 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-04-05 12:14 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-04 00:19 +0000
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-03 17:48 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-04-08 11:23 -0400
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-08 19:35 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-08 10:47 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-04-08 14:22 -0400
lltostr/ulltostr jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-04 13:56 +0200
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 13:36 +0100
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2015-04-04 18:54 -0700
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2015-04-05 14:29 +1200
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Ralf Damaschke <rwspam@gmx.de> - 2015-04-05 16:58 +0000
Re: lltostr/ulltostr jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-05 20:39 +0200
Re: lltostr/ulltostr glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-05 20:19 +0000
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-05 13:18 -0700
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Ralf Damaschke <rwspam@gmx.de> - 2015-04-06 14:28 +0000
Re: lltostr/ulltostr Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-06 08:40 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-04 13:04 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-04 22:52 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-04-04 22:14 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-04-05 00:24 +0100
Re: strtoll discussion Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2015-04-04 16:51 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2015-04-05 23:32 +0200
Re: strtoll discussion Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-16 09:21 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-17 02:21 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-04 15:36 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-16 09:19 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-04-16 10:43 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-04-17 07:59 -0700
Re: strtoll discussion Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2015-04-07 11:46 +0200
csiph-web