this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both β200β and β160β are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When youβre a kid, you donβt realize youβre also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
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- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
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Each finger is conveniently split into 3 parts. Using 8 fingers we can count to 24 without resorting to any fancy math.
Just go base 2 and you can count to 31 without using knuckles
True, although I would put binary in the "fancy math" category.
I wouldn't. It's easy, people just haven't learned it. It takes probably all of a minute to teach someone to count in binary with their fingers.
If they are already familiar with binary, sure.
There are 10 types of people. Those that understand binary and those that don't.
I'm willing to bet I could teach someone how to count in binary on their fingers who doesn't know binary in five minutes or less. They don't need to know it's binary. It's just a simple rule that you add one and if that finger is up it instead goes down and the next goes up. They don't need to know more than that. Then they just work backwards to get the final count. Knowing this is binary can be helpful, but it isn't a prerequisite.
You have much more confidence in the abilities of an average student than I.
Actually can count to 144 or a gross if you use base 12. One hand for the ones place and the other hand for the dozens.
I've always wonder if it was worth the effort of learning base 12 mental arithmetic.
Depends if you're a farmer or merchant without access to electronics.
Thatβs the point most westerners seem to miss. There are so many ways to use fingers to count, while the one common in Europe the simplest one possible. Itβs like demo version, while some other countries get the full pro ultra max edition.
But this isn't about counting on fingers. It's about counting fingers. As in, the fingers themselves are what's being counted when you talk about your "middle finger".
Fair enough. This was an unnecessary side tangent.