duodecimal

> I don't see the point of a duodecimal system of units when a base 10 system is much more elegant.

I don't see the point of a duodecimal system of units when a base 10 system is much more elegant.

In fact, there are some groups that specifically argue for duodecimal systems.

This duodecimal system is "perhaps due to contact with Babylonia" [Lass, "Old English"].

The elegant thing is that in duodecimal all of those are non-repeating fractions: .4, .3, .2, .14, .01 respectively.

"Germanic languages have special words for 11 and 12, such as eleven and twelve in English, which are often misinterpreted as vestiges of a duodecimal system.

You can also find the duodecimal system in languages like English and German: ten, eleven, twelve | thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen\n zehn, elf, zwölf | dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn, sechzehn

But is the customary units system consistently duodecimal?

It makes a very nice simple system for approximate arithmetic, since 1 digit after the duodecimal point is enough to represent 3 and 5 reasonably closely.

Ever tried memorizing the 60 times table?The duodecimal times table is actually easier to memorize than the decimal one because while it is 44% bigger, there are many easy patterns.

If we didn't have 10 fingers, the entire decimal system is worse than base 12 or duodecimal system [3].The problems faced by America are exactly the same type of problems if we want to convert the entire world to duodecimal system.

Calculating with fractions vs. “duodecimals” would be a much less dramatic trade-off, and for many everyday calculations converting back and forth between duodecimal and fractional forms would be trivial.

Duodecimal measurement units are overcomplicated if you don't also use a duodecimal number system, and converting anybody to that is a far bigger challenge than just changing unit systems.