After visiting with everyone at Unicon 11, we found that people from different countries counted on their hands differently.
American’s or Pacific Northwest and Midwest started with the index finger as one, middle finger as two, ring finger as three, pinky as four and the thumb is five.
Other countries started with the thumb, index finger and so on.
How do you count with your fingers?
Barb
uh… i dont think it maters what country your from, it maters on the person… anywho i think it would be stupid to start at the middle of your hand so i start with my thumb and end with my pinky. think about it, how many people read a book from the middle of the line and read to the sides.
oh well, who cares
-Mike
I think it is a North American, perhaps exclusively US, custom to count from the index finger to the pinky with the thumb being last.
I have taken to counting in binary which is much more efficient with the pinky being one, the ring being two, the middle being four, the index being eight and the thumb being sixteen allowing one to count from one to 31 on one hand. Naturally showing the number four is a big crowd pleaser. This requires only two hands to show an entire volleyball score. Four to four is a REAL crowd pleaser.
What is this sixteen you speak of? Are there more numbers after ten?
Counting, 1, 2, 3…
When you count on your fingers, do you start with a fist, and extend your fingers to count?
People in Japan start with their hand open, closing each finger into the palm as they count.
I count using American Sign Language. I can go up to 999 on one hand.
I can’t count.
I know without my shoes, I can go up to about 23.
(depends on the day)
Harper
I read your reply and instantly came to here to reply. That was great. Since I know binary because I have to learn it for programming I was laughing at your remark. I have to say that that was a great reply and I give it a 10/10.
-David