Woohoo! New Chapter!
Transcript
Chapter 6: Binary Counting
Talita is holding up a hand, clothed in her exosuit. Her left finger is extended, while her thumbs and right finger are closed.
Talita: Four
She extends her left thumb and closes the other digits.
Talita: Eight
She extends her left finger.
Talita: Twelve
She extends her right finger.
Talita: Two empty… Fourteen.
She is in a dark building, examining large tanks with avian numerals on them with the light of her headlamp.
44 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 165”
JoB
Hmmm … seeing Talita stand next to it, that railing seems to be the proper height for humans, it’d be more like a (glass) wall for an avian. That doesn’t seem to match the beforementioned electrolysis plant, which hails from the days of Dirtball being an avian mining operation … ?
Apollo235
So Talita counts in binary because she’s a frickin NERD./affectionate But how do Avians count? with only 4 fingers total do they use base 4? Or perhaps they count knuckles on one finger with the other and use base 8?
JoB
If you scroll down, you’ll find analysis strongly pointing to the avians’ numerals being base-8 least-significant-digit-on-the-left.
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I don’t feel confident to state that that means they’ll necessarily use a hand-counting system with base 8, though. If us humans can still use various kinds of hand-counting, in spite of the near-pervasive use of decimal numerals …
Chrysalis
Looking forward to chapter 110!
Gar G
I love how the first one looks like an extended middle finger xDD
Makes me think about that comic
Typhin
“Binary Four” has been used as a euphemism for flipping someone the bird, but I think usually as a joke rather than an actual phrase used with an intention to be recognized. With humans, it works regardless of whether you consider the thumb the most significant bit or the least, too.
thegriffin88
Oh no. Dude I could not get past 5th grade algebra. I don’t know fractions let alone weird counting! TTATT
arf
An alternative counting system uses your thumb to count off your finger joints.
So you *can* count to twelve using the fingers of one hand. (Not sure how well Talita could do with this method, though)
Jackie
I think the transcript is off? She lifts her left finger then closes it in the one sentence. Then lifts it again twice more on 4 and 8. And the digits mentioned dont seem to match the illustration? Or my brain is just broken
Jay Eaton
There was a word replacement error, fixed
JoB
‘Fraid there’s still one (should be “thumbs and right finger are closed” in the first paragraph) …
Jay Eaton
Every day I wake up and suffer
bisexual
took me an embarrassingly long time to confirm it was binary counting by noticing the giant text in the middle of the page reading “BINARY COUNTING” that i somehow missed for a full minute
Light_In_The_Fog
Why is Talita counting in binary? It doesn’t seem like the avian numerals here are binary. Or is that just the way she counts on her fingers?
eden
is there really a way to tell when you can’t actually read the letters? avians Do have two fingers. and our own system Is based on how we have ten digits.
Light_In_The_Fog
The format and Talita’s “two empty” make me think its some sort of fuel gauge, so we can assume these are numbers along the side with a ‘0’ character at the bottom for ’empty’. Looking at the numbers, I see 6 unique characters appearing at varying points throughout the sets of characters. The format, repeating characters, and variation point towards a positional numerical system, so since this system has more than 2 unique characters I can pretty confidently say its not binary.
Vinemaple
Not all historical human counting systems have been base 10. Ancient Phoenicians used base 8, it’s possible (but not certain) that there were base 12 systems as well. Both have certain mathematical advantages. There have also been ancient cultures that supposedly used base 60, but I’m pretty sure that was just base 10 with an absurd number of individual names for high numbers.
I’m still trying to track down the idea that some small-scale cultures have base-4 counting systems, haven’t been able to confirm yet, but it’s in interesting story
Light_In_The_Fog
If you don’t want to call the base 60 systems base 60, they were sorta made of groups of 12, cause you can count to 12 on your knuckles and 5 counts of 12 (one for each finger) makes 60. Look it up its super cool!
whirly
if you look closely at the housing units on page 27/28 (https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-pages-27-and-28/) they are labeled in avian numbers, starting from the bottom right building. its base 8! now you can count in avian too, yay
whirly
ok, reading the fuel gauge, it appears the numbers are read right to left, and are 0, 22, 44, 66, and 88. math!
JoB
And if the orientation of the digits on the central clock tower is an indication (there’s “V>V” there), avians order the digits the other way we do (“V>” on the second-to-last block literally transcribing to “21”, but actually meaning 12(oct) = 10(dec)).
JoB
> our own system Is based on how we have ten digits.
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Technically, that’s (the decimal numbers hailing from the limits of) a unary counting system, and hence more wasteful of storage space than the other hand-counting systems other posters already mentioned. (But don’t worry, I’m a mathematician and IT expert and I still do unary, too. 😉 )
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It’s likely the oldest system mankind has, as evidenced by counting rods dug up (one scratch for every item counted – grouping, orientation, placement etc. are ignored) and the fact that most numeral systems still use digits that look like unary strokes (|, ||, ||| etc.) for the lowest numbers. (Though that’s only the “1” in the Arabic/Indian numerals; see the original Chinese numeral systems for a full-tilt demo.)
JoB
> Why is Talita counting in binary?
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And what is she actually counting? Tanks (note the humungous avian “fourteen” written onto it above her and the gauges), or the fuel(?) that remains in them (please don’t tell me that the avians use an entirely different numerals system but measure liquids in human “tons” nonetheless … 😀 )?
SilentLurker
So she can count up to 15 on one hand or up to 255 on two hands.
That’s an… interesting? skill to have. I wonder how much use she gets out of it. Judging by the chapter title the answer is probably “yes”.
It is a bit funny that she has a full byte of fingers.
pelya
You too have a full byte of fingers, because ring finger and pinky finger can only be bent together for most people, you cannot bend only pinky while keeping all other fingers extended, so you effectively got only four fingers to bend.
40
You gotta get your hands checked out man…
voicecrack
The manoeuvrability of your ring finger and pinkie is something that’s different from person to person, or even hand to hand! Take me for example, I can bend my ring finger and pinkie independently on my right hand, but on my left hand it is impossible to bend my pinkie without my ring finger also bending. It has to do with how the nerves and such are wired.
Chase Wanderstar
@voicecrack How the *ligaments and tendons* are wired, actually! As a result, moving the ring finger and pinky finger independently is actually trainable in healthy people.
Thisfox
Interesting that you think that. Most people have more maneuverability in their hands than you do, evidently.
zaratustra
Yeah, it’s not perfect, but i can fold them independently in a recognisable fashion.
Did a quick test and the worst one is folding every finger but the ring and thumb.
HAL9000
can’t most people count up to 12 on one hand? (14 if you count the thumb but i’ll be real i’ve never met anyone who does) an extra 2 is neat, but you could do it too
IAmUniverse
if were counting in binary like talitas doing (each digit corresponds with 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on), you can actually count up to 31 on one hand!
torque
i count on my fingers with binary! it’s nice for counting seconds if i’m counting for more than a minute or keeping track of a specific number if i don’t have a way to write one down handy
iris
oh good im not the only one who does this
40
I’m glad that Jay wrote some shit so nerdy that I’ve been able to find my people, hello fellow binary counters.
TotallySomebody
Sorry Talita I thought you were flipping us off 💀
Enai
If the chaos temps continue to misbehave, she might flip them off. Or she should, at least. I think she’s too timid to do so, though :-/
Adrienne
I don’t know about being timid, I think it’s just inappropriate for a boss to flip off their employees. Teen Talita had a whole bird-flipping plan for dealing with people who pissed her off after all…
JoB
> I think it’s just inappropriate for a boss to flip off their employees.
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… prime motivation for her to start learning a bit of centaur … “language”?
(Followed by profuse swearing in English as the human temps get replaced by centaur ones …)
Apollo235
No, that looks a bit different
https://jayeaton.site/Art/RttS/Comics/TalitaMiddleFinger
Avardent
Lol I love Talitas triumphant expression
Fern
I once counted how many hairs I got removed in an electrolysis session using binary notation with my fingers.
I think it was around 116
Guest
Oh, cool! Base eight counting?
Joey
The other comments probably gave it away but it’s binary counting using a finger folded in to represent 0’s and out to represent 1’s.
So right thumb out = 0001 = 1
Right finger out = 0010 = 2
Right thumb and finger = 0011 = 3
Left finger = 0100 = 4
She could go up to 15 using 1 hand, 255 using both.
Sorry if you already figured this out.