Take the tour ×  Every base is base 10  It's a hilarious witty
joke that points out how every base is '10' in its base. Like,
2 = 10 (base 2) 8 = 10 (base 8)  My question is if whoever
invented the decimal system had chosen 9 numbers or 11, or
whatever, would this still be applicable? I am confused - Is 10
a special number which we had chosen several centuries ago or am
I just missing some point?  share|improve this question Other
number systems have been used in different civilisations. The
most famous examples are the Babylonians with base 60, Mayans
and Aztecs with base 20. –  roninpro Jul 5 '12 at 5:49 Under
normal conventions, no matter what base you are using you would
say "I use base 10" if talking in the same base. You just would
say out loud "one zero", and it would be very different from
"ten". –  Alex Becker Jul 5 '12 at 5:55 Quite apropos... –  Ｊ.
Ｍ. Jul 5 '12 at 5:57 @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft Indeed, "The Yuki
people had a quaternary (4-based) counting system, based on
counting the spaces betwee