|
|
|
|
One advantage of using a base larger than ten is that numbers written in the larger base contain more. For example, the largest base ten number with five digits is 99,999 while the largest base eleven number with five digits is 161,051 expressed in base ten and the largest base twelve number with five digits contains over twice as much (20736) as the largest five-figure base ten number.
Using base twelve numeration an odometer with seven digits would register up to a total of 35,831,807 miles, while the decimal one would only reach 9,999,999 miles.
| Power | of twelve | of ten |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 10 |
| 2 | 144 | 100 |
| 3 | 1,728 | 1,000 |
| 4 | 20,736 | 10,000 |
| 5 | 248,832 | 100,000 |
| 6 | 2,985,984 | 1,000,000 |
| 7 | 35,831,808 | 10,000,000 |
| 8 | 429,981,696 | 100,000,000 |
| 9 | 5,159,780,352 | 1,000,000,000 |
| 10 | 61,917,364,224 | 10,000,000,000 |
| 11 | 743,008,370,688 | 100,000,000,000 |
| 12 | 8,916,100,448,256 | 1,000,000,000,000 |
This table is available as a pdf file to download at powers