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| Authored by: IANALitj on Friday, June 01 2012 @ 12:01 AM EDT |
It's geek humor.
We start with the idea of numbers to different bases.
Normally, we use base ten to write numbers. However, other bases are possible.
Among the other bases used for different purposes in and around computers are
base two (known as binary) base eight (known as octal) and base sixteen (known
as hexadecimal).
People whose work requires them to work extensively with numbers in one of these
less common bases sometimes become more fluent in arithmetic to that base than
in base 10. (I spent so much time with octal dumps in the 1960s that I could
add and subtract more quickly in octal than in decimal.)
In binary, the first twelve numbers starting with zero are written as
0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 1010, 1011
Notice that the number written 10 is two, the base.
In octal, the first twelve numbers are written
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13
Again, the number written 10 is eight, the base.
And our familiar decimal system of writing numbers has its base of ten also
written as 10.
Now for the joke, 31 OCT == 25 DEC .
The octal number written as 31 has the same value as the decimal number written
as 25.
What makes this a joke is that one may also interpret the OCT and DEC as month
names, in which case
31 OCT == 25 DEC
asserts that Halloween equals Christmas.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: SirHumphrey on Friday, June 01 2012 @ 12:12 AM EDT |
Base or index or radix or power... is a way of expressing a number/quantity in
terms of regular multiples of some other number/quantity. The decimal number 946
= 900 + 40 + 6, which is 9 * 10 squared, plus 4 * 10, plus 6 * 1, which can be
written as 9 * (10^2) + 4 *(10^1) plus 6 * (10^0), where 10^2 = 100, 10^1 = 1,
and 10^0 = 1. For all non-zero bases, x^0 = 1.
9, 4 and 6 represent multiples of the powers of 10.
So 1001 (decimal) = 1*(10^3) + 0*(10^2) + 0 *(10^1) = 1*(10^0) = 1000(decimal) +
1. Binary 1001 = 1*(2^3) + 0*(2^2)+0*(2^1) =1*(2^0) = 8+1 = 9(decimal).
Long story short... 37(base 53(decimal) = 3*(53^1) + 7*(53^0) =
159(decimal)+7(decimal) = 166(decimal), thus showing how 37 can equal 166, as
long as you have suitable bases.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_2 for more examples[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: jesse on Friday, June 01 2012 @ 10:51 AM EDT |
Note - all the above highlights the use of numbers as symbols. in a deliberately
confusing way.
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