"Is it?"

https://arbital.com/p/4gq

by Eric Rogstad Jun 17 2016


Which base of the logarithm is best to use? Well, by the arguments above, it doesn't really matter which base you pick — it's easy enough to convert between bases if you need to\. However, in computer science, information theory, and many parts of physics, it's common to choose base 2\. Why? Two reasons\. First, because if you're designing a physical system to store data, a system that only has two stable states is the simplest available\. Second, because if you're counting the number of factors of growth in an object, it's intuitively more natural to count how many times something \(like a bacteria colony\) has doubled as opposed to counting the number of times it has tripled or 10x\-ed\. \(For example, it's intuitively easier to understand the half life of a radioactive isotope than it is to understand the fifth life of an isotope, even though fifth life is just as valid a measure\.\)

Is it?


Comments

Nate Soares

How's this?

Eric Rogstad

It's good.