this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2025
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Not sure how I would keep track of powers of two with my fingers but base 6 or, my current favorite, base 13 counting is easy enough to keep track.
In principle you use hands as digits, one hand representing ones the other "tens". With base 6 you count with fingers normally up to 5 and then 6 is represented on another hand. This let's you count to 35.
Base 13 works by counting bones in your digits using your thumb. Like touching finger segment and that representing a number. So one hand can count up to 12 and then 13 is marked in the same manner on the other hand. This allows to count up to 168 (13 * 13 - 1).
Utilizing all fingers in a binary manner could give 30 bit number (15 finger bones on each hand), but I have no idea how to then keep track of the number using your hands.
I'm going to say something controversial. You could change your system to base 10, by simply stopping after 9 and using the other hand as the "tens".
This could be easier to see at a glance what number you are holding, it should become the industry standard