Base 12

A base twelve counting system is better suited for humans, as opposed to computers, than the base ten we currently use. Base twelve is a good balance between small enough for humans to handle but big enough to make maths easier, simpler and convenient.

Base 12 has less fractions and less infinite repeating decimals, or perhaps infinite duodecimals, the system's name is not set, I've seen 'dozenal' which is good but it doesn't sound great, don't know, maybe it just needs getting used to. I'll call it the 'duodecimal system' or 'Base12' until a better name sets in. I like the simple name Base12.

In Excel it's easy to convert a decimal number to any base, using the, well, the base function. So to convert decimal number 100 to base 12, use the formula: '=BASE(100,12)'. It also worked in Libre Office Calc but instead of a comma I had to use a semicolon.

The table below was made in Excel using the base function. I added binary and hexadecimal for comparison.

There're already many pages on the Web including a Wikipedia page about the duodecimal system and why it's better, all easily googlable. They explain it better than I could. There are also online calculators.

I'll also mention this nice offline calculator for Windows. The site has a dated design and doesn't seem to be updated but is helpful and the calculator is trustworthy (viruseswise).

Ideally we would have two brand new symbols to represent ten and eleven but for now, like in the hexadecimal system, we'll use letters A and B to represent these numbers.

Table translating the four systems: