However, we still use base-12 (and its big brother base-60) in a few notable areas such as measuring time in months, hours, minutes and seconds, rotational angles in degrees, geographic/GPS
coordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds and, of course, beer and doughnuts by the delectable dozen.
Why is Base-12 Better than Base-10?
Although having ten fingers may make it easier to count in base-10, base-12 is hands-down better for a number of reasons:
More versatile mathematically:
Base-12 can be divided five ways (in half, thirds, quarters, sixths, twelfths) versus only three ways in base-10 (in half, fifths, tenths). Also, base-12 aligns with the base-4
rotational structure of complex numbers through which the higher dimensional math of nature can be is expressed, but not base-10.
More balanced geometrically:
The four positions on the base-12 cycle where primes can occur (1, 5, 7, 11) are rotationally balanced, but not so on the base-10 cycle (1, 3, 7, 9).
See illustration below.
Aligns with nature’s cycles and patterns of 12:
12 months per year, 12 subatomic particles of matter/anti-matter,
12 note chromatic scale of music, the visible spectrum of light and colour wheel of 12 basic hues, the 6 protons/6 electron structure of Carbon critical to organic life, 6-pointed/hexagonal
geometry of snowflakes, etc.
Aligns with ancient intuitive wisdom of 12 in spiritual traditions:
Astrology, Mayan calendar, Greek and Norse mythology, Buddhism, Christianity, sacred geometry, music, etc.
Resolves discrepancies with base-10 numerology:
Expands the learning cycle to include the 10 of awareness and the 11 of illumination
as higher vibrational themes beyond the 9 of physical completion, clarifies the meaning of “master numbers” as higher octaves of 12.
(click on image to enlarge)
For a quick overview of Base-12 and why it's better than base-10, check out my article: How Base-12 Numerology Unlocks the Universal Wisdom of
Twelve