Need an Excuse for Bad Math?

The ancient Mesapotamians used a 60-based system. That's why we have 60 minute hours and 60 second minutes. I think division of a circle into 360 degrees is also a Mesapotamian idea. Since 60 has many dividents, it's allowed them to perform some mathematical tasks relatively easily. I actually think that it is better than our 10/100-based system. But I think they also counted by 10s until 60. Probably a 6 or 12 based system would be ideal. Interesting thing is all peoples everywhere use decimal (10-based) systems because everyone has 10 fingers!

Some languages are more rational in counting than others, as you've written. French is very bad with its special numbers up to 16, then different name for twenty, thirty etc. up to 60, then sixty-eleven etc. and even four-twenty-thirteen... German is also bad, with basically the same system as English (with teens) and then starting to say the numbers the wrong way around (the Danish have this too) five and twenty, etc. Turkish is better, without teens (ten-two, ten-three, etc.), but with different names for twenty, thirty, etc. up to 100, like English.

The best system I've ever seen is the Japanese one (I think is based on the Chinese as mentioned). They have no teens, and for 20 or 30 they say two-ten, three-ten. The only curious thing is that they have a special name for 10000 (man), so they don't call it ten-thousand. And for larger numbers they use 10000 as a base, 1 million is hyaku-man (hundred-tenthousand).