The tenth digit

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

It's just not right. . . It's crazy.

Speak for yourself. I can calculate in any base you care to name. Our current system for representing numbers* with numerals* according to place values is flexible enough to accommodate this. Are the numerals customarily used to represent individual digits arbitrary? Of course. Duh.

What comes after 9þ?

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Rather than present derivation of decimals and negative numbers, I'll leave those as exercises for the reader.

No, I want to see you do decimals.

*Yes, there's a difference between numbers and numerals.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

Are the numerals customarily used to represent individual digits arbitrary?

No. We have ten clumps of neurons that represent the ten digits. They study stroke and brain injury patients to see what they "lose" when certain parts of the brain are damaged. The ten digits reside just above and slightly behind your ear.

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

Speak for yourself. I can calculate in any base you care to name. Our current system for representing numbers* with numerals* according to place values is flexible enough to accommodate this. Are the numerals customarily used to represent individual digits arbitrary? Of course. Duh.

What comes after 9þ?


No, I want to see you do decimals.

*Yes, there's a difference between numbers and numerals.

Logically, after 9þ (ninety-ten) comes þ1 (tenty-one).

Decimals are a lot of fun, and the representation changes depending on degree of accuracy indicated (i.e. number of significant figures).

1.5 is still 1.5, but 1.50 becomes 1.4þ and 1.500 becomes 1.49þ

In this way, we know that we really mean three or four significant figures, and are not just writing down what the calculator or spreadsheet gives us (I see this error all the time). Of course, there's still plenty of room for human error.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Logically, after 9þ (ninety-ten) comes þ1 (tenty-one).

What comes after þþ?

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Decimals are a lot of fun, and the representation changes depending on degree of accuracy indicated (i.e. number of significant figures).

1.5 is still 1.5, but 1.50 becomes 1.4þ and 1.500 becomes 1.49þ

In this way, we know that we really mean three or four significant figures, and are not just writing down what the calculator or spreadsheet gives us (I see this error all the time). Of course, there's still plenty of room for human error.

I'm speechless. Help me out here, what's 0.1? 0.01?

Why does the concept of zero bother you so much?

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

What comes after þþ?

I'm speechless. Help me out here, what's 0.1? 0.01?

Why does the concept of zero bother you so much?

After þþ comes 111.

0.01 is still 0.01, and so on. We still need zero.

What, then, is 1.01? (think of 101/100 to get the correct answer)

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

0.01 is still 0.01, and so on. We still need zero.

Bullshit. You've gone to positively pathological lengths to get rid of zero on the left side of the decimal. Let's see some consistency.

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

What, then, is 1.01? (think of 101/100 to get the correct answer)

You just said .01 is .01, so 1 plus .01 is 1.01. (Unless you're going to define the addition operation differently than usual.)