Numeral systems Memes

Ever notice how our entire number system is basically just us counting on our fingers? Humans have 10 digits, so we use base-10. But if aliens evolved with 12 fingers, they'd probably think our decimal system is as primitive as we find Roman numerals! Base-12 (duodecimal) would actually be mathematically superior—it's divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6! Meanwhile, we're stuck with a system where dividing by 3 gives us those annoying repeating decimals. The extraterrestrial mathematicians are probably laughing at us right now. So next time you struggle with fractions, remember: it's not your fault—you're just two fingers short of a better numbering system!

The equation "123 + 456 = 123456" is hilariously wrong in our decimal system, but it's actually correct if you're operating in base 1 (unary numeral system)! In base 1, numbers are represented by sequences of a single symbol - so "123" actually means "111" (or just 3 in decimal), and "456" means "111111" (or 6 in decimal). When you concatenate them, you get "111111111" (or 9 in decimal). It's like counting on your fingers but refusing to use more than one finger at a time. The bell curve shows the perfect distribution of people who get the joke - those who immediately reject it as wrong (left), those who understand the base 1 cleverness (right), and the blissfully confused majority in the middle who somehow think string concatenation is valid arithmetic. Mathematical humor at its nerdiest!