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The three fingers on the left hand represent 10+10+10 = 30; the thumb and one finger on the right hand represent 5+1=6. Counting from 1 to 20 in Chisanbop. Each finger has a value of one, while the thumb has a value of five. Therefore each hand can represent the digits 0-9, rather than the usual 0-5.
Finger-counting systems in use in many regions of Asia allow for counting to 12 by using a single hand. The thumb acts as a pointer touching the three finger bones of each finger in turn, starting with the outermost bone of the little finger. One hand is used to count numbers up to 12. The other hand is used to display the number of completed ...
Representing negative numbers is extremely simple, by using the leftmost finger as a sign bit: raised means the number is negative, in a sign-magnitude system. Anywhere between −511 and +511 can be represented this way, using two hands. Note that, in this system, both a positive and a negative zero may be represented.
Number systems have progressed from the use of fingers and tally marks, perhaps more than 40,000 years ago, to the use of sets of glyphs able to represent any conceivable number efficiently. The earliest known unambiguous notations for numbers emerged in Mesopotamia about 5000 or 6000 years ago.
Ten digits on two hands, the possible origin of decimal counting. Many numeral systems of ancient civilizations use ten and its powers for representing numbers, possibly because there are ten fingers on two hands and people started counting by using their fingers.
The use of hands in finger counting is often introduced to young children to teach them numbers and simple calculations. In its most basic form, the number of extended fingers corresponds to the represented quantity and arithmetic operations like addition and subtraction are performed by extending or retracting fingers.
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One such system is the body-part counting system which make use of further body parts to extend the system beyond the ten fingers. [1] Counting typically begins by touching (and usually bending) the fingers of one hand, moves up the arm to the shoulders and neck, and in some systems, to other parts of the upper body or the head.