History Main / AlternativeNumberSystem

* The aliens in ''{{Iji}}'' use a ternary number system.

* The Kzinti of LarryNiven's ''KnownSpace'' count in base eight.

* ''LittleFuzzy'', a series begun by HBeamPiper, uses a modified form of base 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, one hand. It then goes to many, and many many. The fuzzies soon adopt the human's base 10 system.
* LarryNiven and Jerry Pournelle's ''TheMoteInGodsEye''. The Moties have a total of 12 digits on their right hands and use base 12.

* In ''WebComic/GirlGenius''' world of [[MadScientist mad science]] there's bound to be examples showing up: "Tell the landlord that he is to stop trying to make change in base eight, or he'll pay his taxes in base twelve."

** A throwawat comment in the episode "The Fifth Race" implies that the [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]] counted in base eight.

* A throwaway comment in the ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "The Fifth Race" implies that the [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]] counted in base eight.

--> '''Carter''': Trust me, its a math thing.

** Also invoked when they nearly set off a Tobin mine by entering in the wrong code due to Daniel failing to factor in a zero into his translation (the Phoenicians they were descended from never ''had'' a number zero). Carter points out in order to program something as complex as a mine, the Tobin's would ''have'' to have added a zero component.

* The behind-the-scenes book on ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' claims that the Na'vi count in base 8 because they're four-fingered.

* JRRTolkien's elven languages use base twelve. Some have inferred from this that the elves are supposed to have twelve fingers, but there are many real languages that use base twelve.

* According to the appendices of ''TheLordOfTheRings'', elves habitually count in base 12.

* TheCulture uses a nonary (base nine, that is) system.

-->Customer: How much is "forty-four" in real numbers?
-->Shopkeeper: XLIV [[hottip:*:pronounced "ex-ell-eye-vee"]].
-->Customer: Well why don't you just '''say''' XLIV? Who can remember "forty-four?"

* In ''{{Housepets}}'', a mouse named Spo came from a very large family. How large? The sibling born immediately after him [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/2009/02/23/their-naming-conventions-had-a-cover-charge/ was named Spp]]...
* In ''GirlGenius''' world of [[MadScientist mad science]] there's bound to be examples showing up: "Tell the landlord that he is to stop trying to make change in base eight, or he'll pay his taxes in base twelve."

* Vestiges of base 20 remain in English ("four score years and ten ago") and French ("quatre-vingts", also in the name of the Parisian hospital ''Quinze-Vingts'' which was originally founded to house 300 patients).

!!Examples

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live Action TV]]

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Web Comics]]

* In [[Main.GirlGenius Girl Genius]]' world of [[MadScientist mad science]] there's bound to be examples showing up: "Tell the landlord that he is to stop trying to make change in base eight, or he'll pay his taxes in base twelve."

[[AC:Real Life]]

* There was a ''SchoolhouseRock'' cartoon featuring an alien who counted in base 12.

* In ''{{Housepets}}'', a mouse named Spo came from a very large family. How large? The sibling born immediately after him [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/2009/02/23/their-naming-conventions-had-a-cover-charge/ was named Spp]]...

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' books, trolls apparently have a "base Many" system (actually base four). As in, "one, two, three, many, many-one, many-two...

* It's never mentioned in the books themselves, or the series, but the "Gallifreyan numerals" used on the spines and chapter headings of the ''DoctorWho'' New Series Adventures (9th and 10th Doctors) are in base 7.

* In ''{{Futurama}}'', robots sometimes use base 2.

* In Leo Frankowski's ''TheCrossTimeEngineer'' series, the new civilization Conrad Stargard starts up in Medieval Europe uses base 12 mathematics, because Stargard believes its "more accurate" than decimal mathematics.

* In ''BattlefieldEarth'' the Psychlos use a base-11 system.

[[AC:Music]]
* The SchoolhouseRock song "Hey Little Twelve Toes" is about a friendly alien with six digits on each hand and foot, who uses base 12 and as such has an easy time multiplying by twelves.

* In ''Literature/{{Contact}}'', a message is encoded in base 11.

* In ''{{Contact}}'', a message is encoded in base 11.

[[AC: WesternAnimation:]]
* In ''{{Futurama}}'', robots sometimes use base 2.

This may be used to indicate the collective intelligence of the society that produced it, if it is portrayed as more sophisticated or more primitive than our system. There may also be an inferred correlation between the ten digits in our number system and the ten digits on the average pair of human hands. Therefore, a race of aliens with FourFingeredHands may use a base eight number system.

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The SchoolhouseRock song "Hey Little Twelve Toes" is about a friendly alien with six digits on each hand and foot, who uses base 12 and as such has an easy time multiplying by twelves.

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In TheFrantics' sketch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFaKD9BuOc "Roman Numerals"]] a Roman citizen is baffled by the new decimal system.
-->Customer: How much is "forty-four" in real numbers?
-->Shopkeeper: XLIV [[hottip:*:pronounced "ex-ell-eye-vee"]].
-->Customer: Well why don't you just '''say''' XLIV? Who can remember "forty-four?"

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^^^ Octal was commonly used back in the days when computers often had six or nine bits in a byte (the eight octal digits fit into exactly three bits, so all six- or nine-bit byte values fit into exactly two or three octal digits, and vice versa), but nowadays computers invariably have eight bits in a byte and octal has been almost completely superseded by hexadecimal (sixteen digits fit into exactly four bits, so all eight-bit byte values fit into exactly two hex digits and vice versa, whereas with octal, two digits is not enough and three is too many).

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[[AC:Literature]]

TheCulture uses a nonary (base nine, that is) system.

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^^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte


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In ''StrangerInAStrangeLand'', the Martians apparently have a numerical system based on three and powers of three. "Three fulfilled," they call it...

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This YKTTW seems pretty substantial, so I'm bumping it. I like how it both documents instances and discusses (in the description) how it's commonly used.

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[[AllThereInTheManual According to]] ''[[StarTrek The Klingon Dictionary]]'', the Klingons used to count in a trinary (base-three) system, but have since switched over to decimal.

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See also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Math New Math]], which infamously included non-decimal number bases as one of its key concepts.

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[[AC: {{Literature}}:]]
* In ''Footfall'', the Fithp use base 8.
* In ''Contact'', a message is encoded in base 11.

[[AC: LiveActionTelevision:]]
* In ''StarTrek: TheNextGeneration]], the [[MeaningfulName Binars]] use base 2.

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There is a subtrope forming, "Robots Count In Base 2".

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* The aliens of {{Rama}} appear to do everything in base three.
** The computer game based on the series has multiple aliens, some of whom also work in base eight (with the numbers represented by colors). This may also be based on the books (I've only read the first).

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In ''The Iron Standard'' by HenryKuttner, the Venusians use base-12. Six fingered, obviously.

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Tropers/PapercutChainsaw, are you still around? Because this is totally launchworthy, and I'd be happy to take it over unless you're planning on doing something with it.

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Further to the ''ElfQuest'' example, the behind-the-scenes book on JamesCameron's ''Avatar'' claims the Na'vi also count in base 8 for the same reason.

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^^ @{{Tropers/Micah}}: Tropers/PapercutChainsaw hasn't posted to this YKTTW since it was first added on October 25th, and hasn't edited a trope page since October 22nd. I think they're gone for a while.

If you wanted to be sure you could send them a PM by going [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/wiki_pm.php here]].

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Well they obviously wanted the YKTTW to get somewhere, so I think it's safe to launch it anyway.

Just PM them to let them know it's launched.

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"There is a subtrope forming, "Robots Count In Base 2"."

More like RobotsCountInBinary.

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