Editing Senary (section)

==Finger counting==
{{main|Finger counting}}
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Each regular human hand may be said to have six unambiguous positions; a fist, one finger extended, two, three, four, and then all five fingers extended.

If the right hand is used to represent a unit (0 to 5), and the left to represent the multiples of 6, then it becomes possible for one person to represent the values from zero to 55<sub>senary</sub> (35<sub>decimal</sub>) with their fingers, rather than the usual ten obtained in standard finger counting. e.g. if three fingers are extended on the left hand and four on the right, 34<sub>senary</sub> is represented. This is equivalent to '''3''' &times; 6 + '''4''', which is 22<sub>decimal</sub>.

Additionally, this method is the least abstract way to count using two hands that reflects the concept of [[positional notation]], as the movement from one position to the next is done by switching from one hand to another.  While most developed cultures count by fingers up to 5 in very similar ways, beyond 5 non-Western cultures deviate from Western methods, such as with [[Chinese number gestures]].  As senary finger counting also deviates only beyond 5, this counting method rivals the simplicity of traditional counting methods, a fact which may have implications for the teaching of positional notation to young students.

Which hand is used for the 'sixes' and which the units is down to preference on the part of the counter; however, when viewed from the counter's perspective, using the left hand as the most significant digit correlates with the written representation of the same senary number.  Flipping the 'sixes' hand around to its backside may help to further disambiguate which hand represents the 'sixes' and which represents the units. The downside to senary counting, however, is that without prior agreement two parties would be unable to utilize this system, being unsure which hand represents sixes and which hand represents ones, whereas decimal-based counting (with numbers beyond 5 being expressed by an open palm and additional fingers) being essentially a [[Unary numeral system|unary]] system only requires the other party to count the number of extended fingers.

In [[NCAA basketball]], the players' [[Number (sports)|uniform numbers]] are restricted to be senary numbers of at most two digits, so that the referees can signal which player committed an infraction by using this finger-counting system.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schonbrun |first=Zach |date=March 31, 2015 |title=Crunching the Numbers: College Basketball Players Can't Wear 6, 7, 8 or 9 |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/sports/ncaabasketball/numerals-on-college-basketball-jerseys-you-can-count-them-on-one-hand.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-08-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

More abstract [[finger counting]] systems, such as [[chisanbop]] or [[finger binary]], allow counting to 99, 1023, or even higher depending on the method (though not necessarily senary in nature). The English monk and historian [[Bede]], described in the first chapter of his work ''De temporum ratione'', (725), titled "''Tractatus de computo, vel loquela per gestum digitorum''," a system which allowed counting up to 9,999 on two hands.<ref name="handsums">{{cite web |author=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |date=Spring 2002 |title=Hand sums: The ancient art of counting with your fingers |url=https://bcm.bc.edu/issues/spring_2002/ll_hand.html |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110813095226/http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/spring_2002/ll_hand.html |archive-date=August 13, 2011 |access-date=May 12, 2012 |website=Boston College |publisher=}}</ref><ref name="laputan">{{cite web |date=16 November 2006 |title=Dactylonomy |url=http://www.laputanlogic.com/articles/2004/05/11-0001.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323185904/http://www.laputanlogic.com/articles/2004/05/11-0001.html |archive-date=23 March 2012 |access-date=May 12, 2012 |url-status=usurped |publisher=Laputan Logic}}</ref>
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