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Originally Posted by RoyInVegas
Ummm. Did you miss the joke, old boy? Or were you simply doing back half-gainers to show off your arcane vocabulary?
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You seemed to have missed my (second) joke. I was adding to and extending the first one.
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0000001 = 1 decimal in binary
0000010 = 2 decimal in binary.
Hence, there are 10 kinds of people in the world.
0000011 = 3 decimal in binary.
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Yes, that's all true, but your joke is that there are 10 kinds of people in the world, and relies for its humor on the fact that it doesn't specify the base as binary. My extension to the joke is that since it didn't specify the base, (you were free to choose binary) I was free to choose a ternary system. In that system:
0000001 = 1 decimal in ternary
0000002 = 2 decimal in ternary
0000010 = 3 decimal in ternary.
Hence, there are "10 kinds" of people in the world (ternary three), and they are people who know binary, people who don't and people who aren't sure. Ternary is often used where one of the variables is indeterminate or unknown as well as taking on the two binary states of true/false. I suppose it's only funny if you know the original joke, so you 're expecting the tired answer and you know that ternary is often used to encompass a binary situation supplemented with tracking an indeterminate state.
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"ternary" is not part of the paradigm.
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The joke premise was "10 kinds" and didn't specify the base. Base 3 is as valid as base two.
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Sometimes, old man, it's better to simply chuckle, rather than to stand up and strut, eh?
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Have you considered taking your own advice? Your joke is very old, I was trying to add something creative to it. If you didn't like my addition, you could at least be polite about it.