If you write it out in base 12, it looks like 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 = 10,000. I can't tell you what number that is in English without working it out of course.
If you add extra numerals for eleven and twelve (lets say A and B) then 12 (base ten) is written 10 (base twelve) and multiplying in base twelve becomes just as easy as multiplying in base ten usually is.
That's not a formatting error. For c000 to make any sense, the base must be at least 13. In none of the bases where c000 is a valid number, the base 12 representation is 10000.
In base twelve would the symbols being in base not help you, like & is 12, &0 is 144, &00 is 1728 or something? And if the symbols made that natural would we not start finding it intuitive just because 144 would have an in base name like twun or something so you could easily say twelve, twun, twund, twend, or whatever and just add digits like with base 10? (Just making up short syllables that start with "tw".) I think I'm slightly off with my two second example because I'm not sure what && means without thinking more, but main point is just that wouldn't we have a means of making it easy to do quickly in base if that were the common base?
Edit: yeah, wanting to add a symbol for twelve instead of two more symbols before 10 in base twelve is my hasty mistake.
I suppose you’d get used to it eventually. But the first line of this post is silly. Another reason the author doesn’t like metric is base ten.
Do you know how many feet are in a mile? The answer is: Who cares.
The fact that you could pick a better base is irrelevant. They had their chance and came up with some silly numbers to scale from an inch to feet to yards to miles.
Metric: Just remember the base unit. Want a new unit? You change the prefix and move the dot appropriately. You can now scale down to atoms or up to galaxies with a single base unit.
Maybe my favorite thing is that auction prices were set in guineas (21 shillings), and the payment was made to the person who auctioned the item in pounds (20 shillings), fixing auction house fees at 4¾% which is basically where they've orbited to this day.
If you write it out in base 12, it looks like 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 = 10,000. I can't tell you what number that is in English without working it out of course.