Abstract
What is so special about numbers 10 and 2 that decimal and binary systems are the most widely used? One interesting fact about 10 is that when we start with a unit interval and we want to construct an interval of half width, then this width is exactly 5/10; when we want to find a square of half area, its sides are almost exactly 7/10, and when we want to construct a cube of half volume its sides are almost exactly 8/10. In this paper, we show that 2, 4, and 10 are the only numbers with this property—at least among the first billion numbers. This may be a possible explanation of why decimal and binary systems are the most widely used.
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Knuth, D.E.: The Art of Computer Programming. Addison-Wesley Professional, Boston, MA (2011)
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Muela, G., Kosheleva, O. (2020). Why Decimal System and Binary System Are the Most Widely Used: A Possible Explanation. In: Ceberio, M., Kreinovich, V. (eds) Decision Making under Constraints. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 276. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40814-5_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40814-5_19
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