this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
23 points (63.5% liked)

Showerthoughts

29707 readers
1310 users here now

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. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    1. NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    2. Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    3. Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct-----

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
vatlark@lemmy.world
forkball@lemmy.world
quinten@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
23
We should count in base four (feddit.nu)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by Hjalamanger@feddit.nu to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
45 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

We have basic words for the numbers zero to three, so why not use them to count?

  • None (0)
  • Single (1)
  • pair (2)
  • Multiple (3+ but we'll use it as three)

So with those "digits" we can construct some numbers:

  1. Single
  2. pair
  3. Multiple
  4. Single nothing
  5. Single single
  6. Single pair
  7. Single multiple
  8. Pair of nothing
  9. Pair of singels
  10. Pair of pairs

And of course we can construct bigger numbers like:
42 = 4²×2+4¹×2+4⁰×2 = pair of pairs of pairs
128 = 4³×2 = pair of absolute complete nothinges For this last one I just use some adjectives to repeat the "nothing" as it looks really weird with multiple nothing in a row.

The distance between Stockholm and Gothenburg is a single multiple of none multiple multiples

Could I have a single multiple of bananas please?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you ask someone for "multiple" of something their almost always going to give you three of that thing (or nothing).

Huh? I've lived a long time and that's not something that feels familiar to me. On the other hand I do have multiple dollars in my bank account and that equation checks out.

[–] Hjalamanger@feddit.nu 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm not a native English speaker so you (and everyone else here) are probably right. I thought it meant the same thing as the Swedish word "flera" whilst the proper translation seems to be "ett flertal"

[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

I think it differs. To me, "flera" is like 3-5 maybe? Perhaps 4-10 in some cases. And I sometimes hear people use "par" to mean 3, probably short for "ett par tre stycken", so a poorly defined 2-3 that sometimes is 3.