Suba_al_hadid just taught her children how to insult people in Geek...

[mare_in_flames]

"My nine-year-old son is the last of my children to learn how to count on his fingers in binary. So far he can count to 31 on one hand. He's learned the significance of the number "4". So tonight I introduced him to the values on the other hand, particularly "128". Naturally we then had to combine the values for the full effect. So now we know what

Comments

[i_am_stillwater]

I don't get it. I feel stupid. :(

[heatermcca]

Number four in binary, when counted on hands and using the index finger as the first position/switch has only the middle finger up: 01.

...I dunno about 132, though.

[razorzknight]

Nope. Counting from the thumb, as you would in any base (even decimal) the numbers are 1 (thumb) 2 (index) 4 (middle) 8 (ring) 16 (pinky) 32 (second hand's pinky) 64 (second hand's ring) 128 (second hand's middle)

Hence middle finger + second hand's middle finger = 128 + 4 = 132.

Or 10000100 for short.

[heatermcca]

Yay, I flubbed it! Thanks for the explanation.

[razorzknight]

You're welcome, it's not that hard to get, but you've gotta be a born geek to get it at the age I did. >.>

[heatermcca]

Heh - I had a friend who could do it to three places, but I believe his brother who was more into computers/programming could to either four or six places (base ten places IIRC).

[razorzknight]

I don't know why geeks are so underestimated everywhere, though (generally speaking, and from personal experience, as being a geek in my country is a capital offense of sorts.)

We can count up to 1023 with our bare hands. Geek FTW!

[baby_rissa_chan]

...as someone who speaks sign language, I can count significantly higher than that with my bare hands >_>

[suba_al_hadid]

I need to learn how to get past 999 in sign language then. Obviously you have to be able to say it; I've just never learned how. Yay! I can add to my sign vocabulary!

[manuka]

And over a million if you take your shoes off.

[brightlotusmoon]

This is perhaps the most fascinating thing I've read on LJ all day. I need to learn binary now.

[razorzknight]

132 = two middle fingers, if you're counting in binary. I learnt to do that when I was, uhm... Seven. But that's what one gets for being addicted to computers and videogames since age five. I've since learnt to count in several other strange bases (3, 4, 5, 8, 16 aka hexadecimal...)

Binary can also can give you some weird-looking maths, like 1+1 = 10.

And with a mind devoid of the chains of decimal base, one can laugh immediately at jokes like that in the final battle of Portal.

"Two plus two equal ten." (Base four, the enemy says next, but I was laughing as soon as I heard the "ten" bit. Damn final bosses and their distraction tactics, though.)

[suba_al_hadid]

There are 10 kinds of people in this world:
Those who understand binary and those who don't.

:)

[razorzknight]

I was wondering when anyone would mention that.

Way better than the lesser numerical jokes, like 42.

[suba_al_hadid]

Someone had to say it eventually.

I also like the numerical system where 11 + 2 = 1. That one had to be explained to me.

[silver_t0ngue]

I got most of the ones mentioned up 'till now, but this one...

Can it be explained to me?