Counting with 8 Fingers
Look at Mickey Count!
Notice how he counts differently than us.
He counts to 7 just like us, but the number after 7 is 10!
Actually this is a little similar to the way that we count. When he reaches the last finger, the right most digit becomes zero and the second digit is increased by one.
But this doesn't look right. He gets to 10 too quickly. And what happened to 8 and 9?
The way that Mickey is counting is not wrong, it is just a different way of representing numbers.
His 10 is different from our 10, the two are not equal. His 10 is equal to our 8, and his 11 is equal to our 9.
Try to count at the same time as Mickey and figure out what his numbers are equal to in our way of representing number.
We will see the exact relationship between his way of representing numbers and our way later on.
What is this way of representing numbers called? Do people count this way at all?
This way of representing numbers is called octal
or Base 8.
When using octal, counting in done eight at a time. Note that the only eight digits are used. They are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, and 7. (8 and 9 are not used)
Almost all people count in decimal. However, there is a tribe in Brazil that does count in octal.
Click here to see how.
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