"You can't take three from two, two is less than three, so you look at the four in the eights place...."

I've had that whole thing from "TWTYTW" memorized since I was a teenager -- great routine.


>>I know, for the octal ref, but I just needed to say that for the record and fyi.
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>"Base 8 is just like Base 10 ............... if you're missing two fingers"
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>(New Math by Tom Lehrer)
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>>>We are talking fingers here not thumbs. :-)
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>>>>My blackened left-hand thumb and index finger nails have only just grown out leaving no trace of the traumae. I hit them them with a hammer so many times (eg when hammering posts into the ground) that I nearly did end up with 8 - 5 on my R and 3 on the L! :-)
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>>>>>And how many fingers do you have. 8 unless you've chopped some off building your shed.
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>>>>>i
>>>>>>How would that be bizarre? It was 1/8 of a £. What could be more natural?
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>>>>>>>You don't think it was even a little bizarre that one of the basic units of currency was worth two shillings and sixpence?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Decimilisation of our currency was a huge boost to inflation. I never saw the benefit. its supposed to make calculations simpler but I never saw a lot of people struggling with 12 pennies in a shilling, the threepenny bit, the sixpence, the half crown (two shillings and sixpence), the florin (two shillings). That was proper money.
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>>>>>>>>>When Canada was making the change to the metric system, a lot of people were grumbling about it. The coworker of a friend of mine was very angry about it and she was actually heard to complain that "Next they're going to do it to our money!"
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>>>>>>>>>>The best I've heard is "How many quarters are in the game", spoken by a Blonde at a football game.
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>>>>>>>>>>>>I was at the checkout of a K-Mart. The clerk rang up $46.64 charge. I Gave her a fifty dollar bill. She gave me back $46.64. I gave the money back to her and told her that she had made a mistake in MY favor. She became indignant and informed me she was Educated and knew what she was doing, and returned the money again. I gave her the Money back... same scenario! I departed the store with the $46.64.
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>>>>>>>>>>>I've seen a few... a girl who measured 4 2/3 yards of fabric, and couldn't find it on the printed table taped to the table how much was it in decimal yards; it took her a few minutes but she eventually located it (.667 - even Walmart was generous enough to hire someone who knows proper round(x,3)). Then she forgot the four and typed .667...
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>>>>>>>>>>>Or a guy who asked me how many cigarettes do I get out of one bag. "Didn't count, but one cigarette should be 1 gram, it says 200 grams on the bag, so that should be 200 cigarettes". "Wow! How did you calculate it so fast? I never got the hang of those metric units." (at least he was a customer)