JackbyDev
link
fedilink
English
522d

Regardless of what base you’re using, 10 is always the nth number. In base 10 (normal numbers), 10 is 10th. In base 2 it is the 2nd.

  1. 1
  2. 10
  3. 11

In base 16 (hexadecimal) it is the 16th.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. A
  11. B
  12. C
  13. D
  14. E
  15. F
  16. 10

The original joke is “there are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don’t l” because 10 in binary is 2 in base 10. But they’re pointing out that a similar joke works for all bases of numbers.

I love that you felt like this needed explaining - thanks!

Some of us would argue 10 is the n+1 th number because zero comes first. Otherwise you’re just throwing a new digit into the mix when you get to 10.

JackbyDev
link
fedilink
English
120d

Zero comes zeroth.

Create a post

Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)

Rules:

  • Posts must be relevant to programming, programmers, or computer science.
  • No NSFW content.
  • Jokes must be in good taste. No hate speech, bigotry, etc.
  • 1 user online
  • 46 users / day
  • 119 users / week
  • 589 users / month
  • 2.25K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 1.66K Posts
  • 36.8K Comments
  • Modlog