• @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      359 months ago

      I’m physically unable to make 8 in binary with my fingers.

      My finger just refuses to go up by itself, it will just go up with its friends.

      • KillingTimeItself
        link
        fedilink
        English
        29 months ago

        you can cheat it quite easily, just hover your hand over a table or surface, and touch your fingers to the surface to indicate a 1, and dont to indicate a zero, works on your leg, or someone elses, if you felt like it i guess.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        79 months ago

        Bend them the other way. Start with all fingers open for zero, and curl them as needed. You only need to move them a bit, so even twenty (thumb and ring finger back, the others curled) isn’t too hard.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        89 months ago

        I can do it but I have to hold down the other fingers with my thumb or by pinching them into the palm of my hand.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          59 months ago

          I don’t bother to fold my fingers all the way when I do it. All you need is a binary on/off, so just bending any discernible amount is sufficient.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      119 months ago

      great point… and if after the 12 you start touching your thumb to the other side of those phalanges, you now have 24. now each time you go through the 24 cycle, your other hand can tick along the same cycle like an hour hand. now you are counting to 550+ with 2 hands.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      41
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      I never thought about doing it that way, so I counted in binary with my right hand… Tricky but oddly satisfying

      Edit: shit, I’m getting faster at this. I might have to convert

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        69 months ago

        Imagine how boss a culture would be being able to count up to 31 on a single hand, and 1023 with two hands.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        29 months ago

        I was able to get to this number: 1 048 576 by using base 4 and making each finger a different “10” s place using each finger segment and the tip of the palm below it but you have to keep track of how many of each order of magnitude you have by yourself. Alternatively, just use a piece of paper.