16 might break it… 四四 makes no sense as 十十 makes no sense… you’d write 百 (100) instead.

And you get the same problem each time you go higher.

You’d need base 4 equivalents of 100 = 百, 1,000 = 千, 10,000 = 万, 100,000,000 = 億,.

Hmm, on the other hand you can have 十万 (100,000), so why not 四四 (16)? What’s 20, though…

In Arabic numerals base 2 has 0 and 1, and base 10 has 0 to 9, which is also 10 numeric symbols. Chinese has 10 numeric symbols for base 10, too, just a “10” symbol instead of a 0.

Spot on. Good example! And 十 is indeed just X on it’s side :D

In Chinese/Japanese, there’s 四 rocks in both base 10, and base 4. (8 rocks would be 二四 in base 4).

I think the concept of “base” is easier to understand when you include a numeral for the highest base (10 = 十, 20 =二十).

Of course, arabic numerals are more concise, using position to imply meaning (21 = 二十一).