A photo of a cake with 8 candles in a row. The first and fifth candle from the right are lit. The caption reads “Happy 17th Birthday”

  • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
    7·
    2 days ago

    Octal 31 = 3 x 81 + 1 x 80 = 24 + 1 = Decimal 25

    • The Yuki language in California has an octal system because the speakers count using the spaces between their fingers rather than the fingers themselves.[2]
    • The Pamean languages in Mexico also have an octal system, because some of their speakers “count the knuckles of the closed fist for each hand (excluding the thumb), so that two hands equals eight.”[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal
    • vrek@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Just curious since you seem knowledgeable, is there a connection between those societies? Or is it just chance they both choose 8?

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
        1·
        17 hours ago

        I am not knowledgeable about this, I just checked the Wikipedia page to confirm my understanding of the joke and found these very interesting historical uses.