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Count to ONE THOUSAND by TEN FINGERS

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Legos Light
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You can actually count up to 1023 using your fingers! This is done through a clever method called binary counting, where each finger represents a power of two. Basically, each of your 10 fingers represents a place value in the binary system.

  • Right thumb: \(2^0 = 1\)

  • Right index finger: \(2^1=2\)

  • Right middle finger: \(2^2 = 4\)

  • Right ring finger: \(2^3 = 8\)

  • Right pinky: \(2^4=16\)

  • Left thumb: \(2^5=32\)

  • Left index finger: \(2^6 = 64\)

  • Left middle finger: \(2^7=128\)

  • Left ring finger: \(2^8 = 256\)

  • Left pinky: \(2^9=512\)

Counting:

  • Start with all fingers down (this represents zero).

  • To count, raise fingers corresponding to the binary place values that add up to the number you want to represent.

  • For example:

    • 1 is represented by raising your right thumb.

    • 3 is represented by raising your right thumb and index finger (1 + 2).

    • 81 is represented by raising your right thumb and right pinky and left index finger (1 + 16 + 64).

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