Doing sleight of hand with numbers. Our numerical base is decimal due to a genetic disposition, a biological whim that leads us to list things with our fingers.

The Sumerians used the number 60 as a base, as they counted the joints of the four fingers of the right hand, except for the thumb, which served as a pointer. These sleights of hand, and their anthropological study, are things we can learn from mathematical biology professor Kit Yates, whose job is to discover the mathematical truths found in our reality.