counting was: ping??

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Bell" <bbell1@insight.rr.com>

> Right. Octal is perfect.
>
> > IIRC 4 (got to get Predator on DVD)

Just one of the ways to use 2*4=8 fingers.

There are peoples on earth who count to ten on one hand .Some even have
a
number system based on 20. One of the ways is illustrated here at the
bottom
of the page:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~airsoft/UCAC_New/tactical/handsignals_mankit/han
dSig
nals.html
BTW, interesting page with a lot of hand signals for military/SWAT use -
probably not authentic, but plausible enough. Ideas for figures.

Back to numbers. So 4-fingered aliens could have a system with base 4, 8
or
16. If their manual dexterity is high, they could use their fingers to
count
in a digital binary fashion. This would allow them to count to 2**4 = 16
on
one hand and 2**8 = 256 with both hands.

Greetings
Karl Heinz