Your middle finger is only your middle finger if you also count your thumb as a finger. Which I find hard to accept. @showerthoughts 🖕

  • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
    5·
    2 days ago

    Andy why do we even count the fleshy fingers, when we could be counting the gaps between them?

    Each finger is conveniently split into 3 parts. Using 8 fingers we can count to 24 without resorting to any fancy math.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          1·
          17 hours ago

          I wouldn’t. It’s easy, people just haven’t learned it. It takes probably all of a minute to teach someone to count in binary with their fingers.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
              2·
              5 hours ago

              I’m willing to bet I could teach someone how to count in binary on their fingers who doesn’t know binary in five minutes or less. They don’t need to know it’s binary. It’s just a simple rule that you add one and if that finger is up it instead goes down and the next goes up. They don’t need to know more than that. Then they just work backwards to get the final count. Knowing this is binary can be helpful, but it isn’t a prerequisite.

    • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zipEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      That’s the point most westerners seem to miss. There are so many ways to use fingers to count, while the one common in Europe the simplest one possible. It’s like demo version, while some other countries get the full pro ultra max edition.

      • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
        6·
        1 day ago

        There are so many ways to use fingers to count, while the one common in Europe the simplest one possible

        But this isn’t about counting on fingers. It’s about counting fingers. As in, the fingers themselves are what’s being counted when you talk about your “middle finger”.