tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033865397341905972.post5636554149126657465..comments2024-03-26T09:35:47.151+00:00Comments on No PC Views: Twelve Is A Magic NumberNo PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17824446252611654550noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033865397341905972.post-53641206965354320472016-07-31T17:08:29.901+01:002016-07-31T17:08:29.901+01:00The point is that if I was an early homo-sapien, o...The point is that if I was an early homo-sapien, or even another hominid, I would not naturally start looking to the heavens or for numbers such as 12 or 16 etc as my magic number, when dangling in front of me was a number (ten), which I could wave in front of Mr Stig or Mrs ugg to signify an amount. I wouldn't need higher maths ... just two hands and all my digits.<br /><br />This would also be able to signify that there was more than 10 elk or enemy with both hands flashed out x number of times, and a remainder. No writing required. So why use 12 as a measurement or base value? Why use 12 loaves as a 'bakers number' why not ten, or ten disciples or ten witches in a coven or ten days of Xmas ... etc etc<br /><br />Naturally, we should have used 10 as our magic number, but we didn't. There are reasons of course, but its still counter intuitive. So 12 it is and 4,000 years or more later, so it remains.No PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17824446252611654550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033865397341905972.post-42225061457494665992016-07-31T12:17:24.124+01:002016-07-31T12:17:24.124+01:00The calendar was doubtless the inspiration for the...The calendar was doubtless the inspiration for the use of 12 and without it we may have been stuck with a decimal system, but with it people could see how convenient it was to divide up.<br /><br />I don't understand your point about the base for multiples? Eggs can come in multiples of a dozen and inches are in multiples of feet.Vroomfondelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15502448843409791872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033865397341905972.post-80061280677067294082016-07-31T06:52:17.775+01:002016-07-31T06:52:17.775+01:00Doubtful. Higher mathematics must have come after ...Doubtful. Higher mathematics must have come after language yet 12 was there from the start of civilisation. Probably via farmers and the zodiac. In any event why not use 10 <i>(fingers and thumbs),</i> which is divisible by 2, and 5 as well as being easy to use our hands to calculate with. Also and equally importantly, it is easily used as the base for multiples <i>(12 as I can tell you from pre-decimal days, was not)</i>. Or 8 <i>(fingers only),</i> which divides with 2 and 4. <br /><br />All the evidence suggests, as I have shown above, is that the moment we first could, we used the maths we had already adopted as illiterate farmers or even as hunter gatherers following seasonal food through the year.No PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17824446252611654550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5033865397341905972.post-48341358296272334942016-07-30T22:56:19.425+01:002016-07-30T22:56:19.425+01:00I imagine that all of this symbolism was born out ...I imagine that all of this symbolism was born out of the pragmatic use of twelve for weights and measures because it is easily divided by 2,3,4 and 6. Vroomfondelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15502448843409791872noreply@blogger.com