Re: odd bases

From: Tim Brauch (RnEeMwOs.pVoEst_at_tbrauch.cNOoSPAMm)
Date: 10/12/04 

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 18:15:57 GMT

Tim923 <juggler923@verizon.net> wrote in
news:t3snm0lqn1llc2ea3ng9c1g1vbvg1u5n1j@4ax.com:

> Are odd bases pretty useless because one can't quickly tell if the
> number is odd or even by checking the last digit? Or does it not
> matter? And 1/2 would be repeating.
>

It only matters if divisibility by 2 is important for whatever you are
doing, likewise for 1/2 to be terminating.

If I was doing something in which I needed to quickly know if a number was
divisible by, say, 7 then base 7 might be the most appropriate form to use.
Anything using arithmetic modulo n is essentially using base n arithmetic.

 - Tim 

-- 
Timothy M. Brauch
NSF Fellow
Department of Mathematics
University of Louisville
email is:
news (dot) post (at) tbrauch (dot) com