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You can count past 1,000 on your fingers by using binary, instead of just 10
(www.mathsisfun.com)
It can be very useful to know how to count to 4 this way, especially as a signal to other drivers regarding your level of displeasure
You can rate their driving on a 0-10 scale using this handy system
132 also feels like a good signal number.
Instructions unclear: accidentally cast clone jutsu
I can count to 21 if I take off my shoes and pants
Sure, but good luck putting up 15 with that system. Just try it: raise all your fingers except for your pinkie!
Easy, I pin my pinky against my leg.
The biggest hassle with it is just remembering or constantly recalculating which combination of fingers is which number
Ahh if I do that it’s a really uncomfortable stretch feeling on the back of my hand!
I don’t have any issues with counting in binary though. If my fingers could cooperate I could do it. Adding in binary is easy enough too.
See, I don't trust myself to keep track of which digit is 8 vs 16 vs 32, so I end up recalculating to double check my work even though I usually have it right the first time.
I'm sure if I practiced it more I'd have it down cold, but it's just how my OCD brain works
Yeah, and ultimately it’s rather silly to practice because it’s not that practical anyway, especially when everyone has a calculator on their phone.
Big numbers are cool, but you can actually count to 100, not 10, in decimal, by using two hands.
On your right hand:
Pointer = 1
Pointer + Middle = 2
Those + Ring = 3
Those + Pinky = 4
Thumb alone = 5
Thumb + Pointer = 6
Those + Middle = 7
Those + Ring = 8
Those + Pinky = 9
Now hold up your left hand and stick your pointer finger out. Put all right fingers down. That's 10.
So I've shown you how to count to 10 on one hand. The other hand is the tens place, so by having two hand signals that go up to 10, you have two digits and therefore 100. And once you know the trick, it's super easy to read, too. If you're gesturing to someone else, reverse the hands so they can read it left to right.
As long as we are going that far, maybe we should stick to a system that if already in use
So growing up I was taught ASL. And I can tell you, knowing how to count high on a single hand REALLY helped in my lower grades for math. I used to see kids put down their pencil to keep counting, and I'd be counting on my fingers with one hand. Very practical.
And when you get older, if you and your friends know ASL, you can sign across rooms (like noisy bars). Just throwing that out there.
Cool! I imagine ASL goes higher than 20? Because if it didn't, the system I learned wins since it can go 0-100.
I think the one I learned is easier to learn/memorise, too.
But since we're talking about counting/doing math on your fingers, I'm not sure which is easier. That said, the one I learned was from a YouTube video about mental calculations. They said that was how they counted really fast. Still subjective, though.
ASL can count as high as you need to, it gets kind of tedious after about a 999, because of all the place markers that need to be added in (like manual counting, or spelling out a number on a check), but one can sign up to 999 with a single hand. for numbers up to 99, it's more or less using the chart above. For everything after that you mark the hundreds place with the letter C and then go on the rest of the number (476, would be signed 4 C 76). Beyond that, it's just a matter of adding on the place value signs for "THOUSAND", "MILLION", etc. (which are two handed signs) so, 456,789 would be signed as 4 C THOUSAND 56 7 C 89.
The exception to this would be strings of numbers, like phone or room numbers, where you sign them much like how they'd be spoken. So when directing someone to room 235, you'd just sign 2 35 (the concept of hundreds isn't really important here, because in most cases, the leading 2 just means the room is on the second floor).
Edit: ASL is very visual so here's a link (with the caveat that there's variations in signs between signers/ regions, so online stuff may be different than what folks in your area are using)
Uhh, 100 uses 3 digits.
True.
But, two thumbs up = 100 and no fingers up at all = 0.
It's like rolling "1d100" in D&D. Unless you actually have a 100-sided die (a ball with a weight in it so it eventually stops with a number up), you roll 2d10 and declare in advance which one is the tens place (some have a zero at the end of each digit, so that's tens by default). That gets you 1-100 with no zero option.
So, you're right that two digits have 100 numbers, 0-99. The dice system has 100 numbers, 1-100. The hand system I described goes 0-100. So technically one of those is a 3 digit number. But, the system allows it and doesn't (easily) allow any more 3 digit numbers.
two thumbs up = 100
So how would you distinguish this from 55?
OK, but should I?
4? What do you mean?
I developed this skill at a young age because I grew up in a nerdy family
It's unfortunately only really useful as a party trick and not super practical
I got a nice and easy method to represent 25 numbers on one hand. You have 12 segments of the non-thumb fingers and you can hold your finger on the front or side as you go through them. Closed fist represents a zero or 25. Use two hands multiplicative to get to 600.
I don't really see how that is better than the count to 1035 that you get from binary though.
You just have to add two numbers. With the big number hand you can count hundreds by using the closest segments first, then medium then distant and so on. Hardest additions will make you carry the one once for a case like 19+175 which is easy enough. Also, going from 37 to 38 in binary with fingers you have to close 4 fingers and open one while counting segments you at most move your thumb to the next segments on both hands.
Binary still works fine and is better depending on the specific case but in my opinion counting segments is usually more convenient and base 10 friendly.
You will hurt your tendons trying, but you can.
No? I've been counting like this for like 20 years
Maybe you're used to it. Putting up just my ring finger is hard and uncomfortable
I don't try to put my pinky all the way down, the difference between a 1 and 0 on that finger is about 90°, though it rolls a bit depending on the other fingers. As long as you can tell the difference between up and down, you don't have to be that strict about the exact positioning
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2026
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