Negative Base

#1

Post by int_10h » Wed, Jun 27, 2018, 12:04 PM UTC

Negative Base
en.wikipedia.org

Re: Negative Base

#2

Post by rprospero » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 12:26 PM UTC

I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone use INTERCAL code to try and explain a concept.

Re: Negative Base

#3

Post by dvfjsdhgfv » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 12:33 PM UTC

Can anyone provide some examples of practical applications of this?

Re: Negative Base

#4

Post by empath75 » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 12:43 PM UTC

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #3

Can anyone provide some examples of practical applications of this?

I can’t imagine there ever would be.

Re: Negative Base

#5

Post by gota » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 12:47 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #4

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #3

Can anyone provide some examples of practical applications of this?

I can’t imagine there ever would be.

Well, the number of digits tell you the sign of the number, right? It could save a sign bit

I think the ideal wikipedia page for this kind of thing has a 'Properties' section from which to start thinking about this

Re: Negative Base

#6

Post by ainar-g » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 12:51 PM UTC

rprospero wrote: post #2

I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone use INTERCAL code to try and explain a concept.

For those wondering, please do read the Wiki article[1]. It's amazing.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INTERCAL

Re: Negative Base

#7

Post by vinceguidry » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 12:59 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #4

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #3

Can anyone provide some examples of practical applications of this?

I can’t imagine there ever would be.

I don't think anyone ever imagined a use for imaginary numbers either, but those turned out to be quite useful for reducing dimensionality. Towards the bottom of the article it states that Donald Knuth proposed imaginary base numerical systems.

So this may eventually find a use, likely with higher-dimensional math.

Re: Negative Base

#8

Post by ainar-g » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 1:04 PM UTC

vinceguidry wrote: post #7

empath75 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t imagine there ever would be.

I don't think anyone ever imagined a use for imaginary numbers either, but those turned out to be quite useful for reducing dimensionality. Towards the bottom of the article it states that Donald Knuth proposed imaginary base numerical systems. So this may eventually find a use, likely with higher-dimensional math.

It will be really funny if there is some bit of new, undiscovered physics, that went undiscovered for so long just because it's best described using some esoteric maths like complex base numbers.

Highly unlikely, but fun to think about.