This is how we should read hexadecimal…

Today my five-year-old told me that when she was four, she thought that what came after ninety-nine was… tenty. You know, because seventy, eighty, ninety, tenty.

At first I thought it was just funny and charming, but then I realized it was actually a really good idea. Tenty is only nonsensical if you’re counting in base ten (or lower), but it makes total sense for higher bases.

How do people usually read 0xA0? “A-zero”? How unimaginative! Let’s read that “tenty” from now on!

Here are some more examples of how to read hexadecimal in a non-boring way:

  • 0xB3 is eleventy-three
  • 0xCA is twelvety-ten
  • 0xD9 is thirteenty-nine
  • 0xEC is fourteenty-twelve
  • 0xFF is fifteenty-fifteen
  • 0xF04A is fifteen hexathousand forty-ten
  • 0x4B2AC0AA is forty-eleven hexamillion, two hexahundred tenty-twelve hexathousand tenty-ten
  • and of course, seven-eleven will have to change their logo to 0x7B.

Repeat after me... One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, onety, onety-one, and so on.

Is this the greatest thing or what?

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