Numbers and Numerical Systems

Tom Kando 

I was recently watching the great old musical Brigadoon. The people of that mythical fantasy land come alive once every century. So I’m thinking: Why every century? Why not some other time unit? Why did most of the world agree to go decimal? 

There are still exceptions, notably this country’s mishmash of measuring systems: Unlike much of the world, Americans measure distance and height in inches, feet, yards and miles, not centimeters, meters and kilometers. Our weights are in ounces and pounds, not grams and kilos. Volume is expressed in gallons, not liters, temperature in Fahrenheits, not centigrades, etc. But even in the US, science and medicine do most things decimally. 

There is no question that decimal is a lot better than the hodgepodge of measurement systems we use. But even decimal is an arbitrary system, hardly reflecting the nature of the world. It is often said that the choice had something to do with our ten fingers. 

A while ago I wrote a post asking whether mathematics is a discovery or an invention. In other words, is it embedded in nature, or do we humans use it to interpret nature? (See my post of Feb. 22 2024): ”Is Math a Discovery or an Invention?” or: Was God a mathematician?” 

Today, I am thinking of something related: Alternative numerical systems. The big one that immediately comes to mind is the binary system, because computers use it and computers have taken over the world. If we went binary, years would be numbered differently. We learn in history that Charlemagne was crowned Emperor in the year 800.

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English is Weird!

By Madeleine Kando

The English language went through a fairly uneventful childhood. It was born a Celtic language, which is still spoken in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. But after the numerous invasions of the island, English could barely keep up with the deluge of foreign influences.

First came the Romans. They left scraps of Latin on the English plate, before they departed for good.

The Celtic language of the clan (clann) who lived in bogs (bogash), ate crumpets galore (ge leor) and smashed (mescaen) chairs (chaiere) to smithereens (smidrini) after they drank tons of whiskey, easily incorporated words like triumph, ovation, consul, dictator and circus.

But soon, the Anglo-Saxons came. Because the land of the Anglo Saxons often got flooded, they started to look for new places to farm and grow crops. Britain seemed like a nice dry place.

They brought their own language and the Celtic language started to cave in under the sheer abundance of new words. Celtic was pushed into the remote corners of this beautiful island and Old English took over. It was very different from modern English though. If you met the (anonymous) author of the poem ‘Beowulf’, you wouldn’t understand what he was reciting.

But that was not the end of it. After the Anglo-Saxons, came the Vikings and left more scraps behind. These Vikings were an angry and awesome band that often went berserk. They were chubby and knew how to crochet. But they were also ugly, ran amuck, drew skulls and knives, liked to die but loved cake! These words represent the character of a fighting, raiding culture.*

To top it all off, came the Norman invasion. They quickly overran England with their armies and their French language. English was force-fed French words, like stuffing a goose. Written English practically disappeared and spoken English was in danger of becoming extinct.

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