Klarinet Archive - Posting 000058.txt from 2010/03

From: =?utf-8?B?QW5uYSBDZWNpbMOtYSBCZW5hc3PDrQ==?= <acb@-----.is>
Subj: Re: Coincidence??? [kl]
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:34:27 -0400

Inbreeding will do the trick. I've read about polydactylism, a condition
in which one is born with more than the usual number of digits. Evidently,
there has been a high incidence of it among the Old Order Amish, in
communities where the gene pool is too small to select it out.

Anyone care to ponder the possibilities of a 12-finger clarinet?

Cheers,
a

> From: Tim Roberts <timr@-----.com>
> Subject: Re: [kl] Coincidence???
> Message-ID: <4BA29DD8.6030904@-----.com>
>
> Yes. Our students would have an easier time with mathematics if humans
> had evolved with 6 fingers on each hand instead of 5. Our number system
> would be based on 12 instead of 10. That means, for example, that the
> fractions 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8, 1/9, and 1/12 would all have exact
> representations, instead of being repeating decimals.
>
> Instead, we're left with just 1/2, 1/4, 1/5, and 1/8.
>
> --
> Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
> Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

>