Thus, 723 in duodecimal = (7 x 144) + (2 x 12) + 3 units, or 1035. in the decimal system. The fourth number to the left of the semicolon represents 12³, or the number of 1728’s, the fifth digit ...

Humans, for the most part, count in chunks of 10 — that’s the foundation of the decimal system. Despite its near-universal adoption, however, it’s a completely arbitrary numbering system that emerged ...

I grew up in Russia and was raised on the metric system based on the decimal arithmetic. When we immigrated to the U.S., I had to learn a new to me (but, actually, very old) Imperial system of ...

Michael A. Lombardi, a metrologist in the Time and Frequency Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., takes the case. In today's world, the most widely used ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...