certified cephalopod™️

Every base is an option for counting. The world is full of possibilities!

Now, how often do you need to divide things by five? A lot less, I bet.

Ten has two factors -- two and five. You can halve ten easily but that's about its only use. Twelve has four factors (two, three, four and six), and three of these factors are extremely useful. Being able to third things and get a round number is great. Being able to halve and then halve again and get a round number is great. Why are so many pre-digital measurement systems calculated in twelves instead of tens? Because twelves are more practical for real world tasks.

In a base ten system, multiplication is bullshit. Twos and fives fit neatly into tens, and fours fit neatly into twenties, and beyond that multiplying numbers sucks. In a base twelve system, twos, threes, fours and sixes fit into 10 (by which I mean twelve) and eights into 20 (twenty four). Multiplication becomes far easier to learn as a child and far easier to mentally calculate on the fly as an adult.

Base ten isn't the absolute worst possible base, but unless you really prize your ability to work in fives, it possesses no advantages that base twelve doesn't also possess. And base twelve possesses many advantages that base ten doesn't. Twelve is simply a mathematically superior system for practical uses. (And if you do prize your ability to work in fives, switch to sixes instead. They're far more practical since they can be halved and thirded easily.)

xtras!