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[Starver]

I was going to mention Greenland.  But as you have already, instead here's: A base 27 system in human use.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

What kind of sick bastard would use a base of 27?

[Starver]

I don't know, but I bet they feel 3J% smug about it...

[RedKing]

What kind of sick bastard would use a base of 27?

Tribes in Papua New Guinea, apparently.

The Oksapmin use a system of counting in which numbers are associated with body parts, starting at one thumb, continuing across the body and face, and ending at the little finger of the other hand. The numbers that may be expressed in this system range from 1 to 27.

That's....that's actually pretty awesome. Doing a bit more digging, the same language has a complex range of kinship terms which are related to body parts as well.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

What kind of sick bastard would use a base of 27?

Tribes in Papua New Guinea, apparently.

Nuke the site from orbit. It's not the only way to be sure, but my rage demands it.

[RedKing]

What kind of sick bastard would use a base of 27?

Tribes in Papua New Guinea, apparently.

Nuke the site from orbit. It's not the only way to be sure, but my rage demands it.

Oh, it gets better. Here's a graphic:



And here's the names:
1.  tip^na,
2. tipnarip,
3. bum rip,
4. h^tdip,
5. h^th^ta
6. dopa,
7. besa,
8. kir
9. tow^t
10.kata
11.gwer,
12.nata
13.kina,
14.aruma
15.tan-kina,
16.tan-nata,
17.tan-gwer
18.tan-kata
19.tan-tow^t,
20.tan-kir
21.tan-besa
22.tan-dopa,
23.tan-tip^na
24.tan-tipnarip,
25.tan-bum rip,
26.tan-h^tdip,
27.tan-h^th^ta.s

So it's like counting to 14, then counting down from 13 to 1 but with a marker word.
Moreover, these aren't numerals, they're the actual names of the body parts. Trade must be confusing as all fuck.

"I'd like left elbow fish, right eye sacks of beans, and an ear of corn."
"Left ear or right ear?"
"Better make it right ear, my family is pretty big."

[Skyrunner]

"I'd like left elbow fish, right eye sacks of beans, and an ear of corn."
"Left ear or right ear?"
"Better make it right ear, my family is pretty big."

Oh, this made me laugh xD

[olemars]

Moreover, these aren't numerals, they're the actual names of the body parts. Trade must be confusing as all fuck.

This being from Papua New-Guinea, I wouldn't be comfortable going to a rural butcher shop and ask for left-shoulder cutlets.

[Flare]

Most immigrant families tend to put a lot of pressure onto their kids. After that first generation though, things mellow out quite a bit. The kids that get good grades in mathematics and kids that don't get good grades in it in East asian countries are comparable to the rest of the world, although the rote memorization thing and the cultural pressure on doing well academically push it up a little bit more.

Honestly though, there are a lot of countries besides asian ones that ranks very well in terms of math scores.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html
http://4brevard.com/choice/international-test-scores.htm

By all means, it's not that children of immigrants from these countries are especially smart, but (I'm assuming most of you are from the US) the US is pretty awful when it comes to mathematics scores, or at best mediocre.

[Muz]

The Chinese abacus system does help a lot in doing difficult arithmetic, like multiplying/dividing 4 digit numbers in your head. Works really well considering how the human brain does calculations. Though I never actually had to use it in a real world situation, because we all have calculators now.

[Pnx]

The Chinese abacus system does help a lot in doing difficult arithmetic, like multiplying/dividing 4 digit numbers in your head. Works really well considering how the human brain does calculations. Though I never actually had to use it in a real world situation, because we all have calculators now.

Do you mean multiple/divide 4 digit numbers as in 1200/60, or as in 5672*1238? Because I've noticed that a lot of people seem to feel adding zeroes to a number makes it tougher when really it barely changes anything at all.

[Starver]

The Chinese abacus system does help a lot in doing difficult arithmetic, like multiplying/dividing 4 digit numbers in your head. Works really well considering how the human brain does calculations. Though I never actually had to use it in a real world situation, because we all have calculators now.

Do you mean multiple/divide 4 digit numbers as in 1200/60, or as in 5672*1238? Because I've noticed that a lot of people seem to feel adding zeroes to a number makes it tougher when really it barely changes anything at all.

I don't know how abacuses work (i.e. how they're used), but in doing 5672*1238 it's highly possible that it's a simple matter of long-multiplication.



Place   7   6   5   4   3   2   1   0   (Each number being a column of beads.)
So, for example         5   6   7   2 beads = 5672

To do x1238...
Start with x8          40  48  56  16 beads
Rationalise                    57   6  (Perhaps done as you go,
                           53   7   6   to save time and effort,
                       45   3   7   6    but here done in an expanded version...)
                    4   5   3   7   6 beads stored (= 8 x 5672 = 45376)

Now x30            15  18  21   6
Rationalise     1   7   0   1   6
Add to store    1  11   5   4  13   6
=               2   1   5   5   3   6

+x200          10  12  14   4
Rationalise 1   1   3   4   4
Add2Store   1   3   4   9   9   3   6

+x1000      5   6   7   2   
Add2Store   6   9  11  11   9   3   6
Rationalise 7   0   2   1   9   3   6

So, if I've done it right, 5672 x 1238 = 7,021,936


And I could see that being done mentally, as well.

[Pnx]

Well yeah, although the way I do it mentally is a bit different than the way they teach it. Well, not that different. Although it's always difficult not to fumble numbers when you've got to keep track of so many of them.

I did know someone who used an abacus method to do mental math, and while I'm told they had a much easier time of things, I wasn't terribly impressed.

[misko27]

I;m going to pop in and say I go to one of the New York Specialized schools, one with quite alot of math awards, and 70% of the students are Asian. 70%. I think it relates to more determination then anything else. Industriousness and such. I'd argue against it, but then, of course, 70%.

[majikero]

People who can afford to go through all the bureaucracy to go to the USA are quite well off so that means at some point in their young life, the go to private schools, has tutors, aspires get scholarships or go the the best school in the country.

From personal experience relating to math, we learned math by doing it every schoolday so five days a week, with homework, quizes and solving equations in front of the class. Nothing to hard.

I remember during the forth grade we did multiplication flash cards. Solve as much base number multiplication in one minute.