十月31日和12月25日是否是同一天

2012-07-24

10月31日和12月25日是否是同一天？There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand

10月31日和12月25日是否是同一天？

There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

This joke relies on the fact that mathematical expressions, just as expressions in natural languages, may have multiple meanings. Like other?puns, the humor is derived from an ambiguous meaning; in this case, the expression?10?in the?binary numeral system?is equal to the decimal number?two.

Another pun using different?radices, sometimes attributed to computer scientists, asks:

Why do mathematicians always confuse?Halloween?and?Christmas?

Because 31?Oct?= 25?Dec.

The humor lies in the similarity of the abbreviation for October/Octal?and December/Decimal, and the coincidence that the two representations equal the same amount (31 Octal is 3*8 + 1 = 2*10 + 5 = 25 Decimal).