Back on the 14th of this month, my post used words like Lakh and Crore – terms from the Indian numbering system
The Indian Numbering System is used throughout India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It is based on the Vedic numbering system in which numbers over 9,999 are written in two-digit groups rather than the three-digit groups used in most other parts of the world. For example, one lakh - written 1,00,000 – corresponds to 100,000 in the Arabic decimal system we normally use in the USA.
Of course, the decimal notation is not the only system in use here. That same 100,000 could be expressed as 11000011010100000 in binary, or 186A0 in hexadecimal , or 303240 using octal (Base 8).
Speaking of Base 8, it was once used in programming early computers, but now its only purpose seems to be the confounding of young math students.
I have a nephew who is an actuary and a bit of a computer/math geek. I was not surprised when his daughter posted on Facebook that Base 8 was no fun. She claimed that when converting from decimal to octal, math lost its sense of humor, and as evidence she offered the old elementary-school joke
Question - “Why is 6 afraid of 7 ?
Answer - “Because 7 10 11 !”
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