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# Finger Binary

Finger binary (Q3272499 on Wikidata) is a unique way of counting on your fingers. Most people, at least in the Western World, would count from one of their thumbs, then index finger with the thumb still up and so on until they reach ten, or at max 20 if one bends their fingers half way. With finger binary, it is easily possible to count to 31 on just one hand and 512 on both.

To start, 0 would be all of your fingers closed, 1 would be your right thumb open, 2 is just your index finger, then 3 is your thumb and index open.

For those who know binary, this is going to seem very familiar and can see where this is going. Each finger represents a number, doubling in size each time by a power of 2 each time.

On your right hand:

...but wait, there's more!

If we carry on using our left hand to count, it is possible to count a lot higher:

So, if you wanted to show 19, for example, you would stick out your right thumb, right pointing finger, and right little finger, 17 would be sticking out your right little finger and right thumb. It's rather easy to follow once you've had some practice.

     _ _
    | | | 
 _ _| | |
|_|_| | |___
|     "   __)
|        )
 \      /
  |    |

This is in comparison to what most might consider to be normal counting, where each finger represents just the number 1.

# Quick Summary

0 would be a closed fist:

 _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|
|   (__  \
|     /  )
 \  -"  /
  |    |
    

1 would be just the thumb:

 _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|___
|         __)
|        )
 \      /
  |    |

2 would be just the index finger:

       _
      | |
 _ _ _| |
|_|_|_|_|
|   (__  \
|     /  )
 \  -"  /
  |    |

3 would be the index finger and thumb:

       _
      | | 
 _ _ _| |
|_|_| | |___
|     "   __)
|        )
 \      /
  |    |

4 would be... oh.

     _
    | |
 _ _| |_
|_|_|_|_|
|   (__  \
|     /  )
 \  -"  /
  |    |

# Is Finger Binary Hard To Learn? 🙀🙀🙀

No, not really.

Getting the hang of finger binary isn't that difficult, and in fact it can be learnt in a matter of weeks, if that. The only problem is that it's a bit if a niche thing to know, if not a bit of a party trick. But still, getting the hang of it can be useful, especially if you're counting to yourself for whatever reason and need to remember a number greater than 10.

With that said, it's not perfect. Very few counting systems can be without issues. For finger binary, it comes down to that sometimes, some numbers are not the easiest to spell out with your fingers: the number 9, your thumb and ring finger, can kind of hurt, for example.

There are other things like, there being better counting systems that you can do with your body. You could go even higher if you bend your fingers half way and then fully, for example.

But still, to repeat, probably the biggest issue with finger binary is the fact it isn't known that well. This isn't a fault of it, of course, but the traditional way of counting (1 finger always equals 1) will, for the moment, be king.

# Credits and Notes

• Finger ASCII art was made by Drummyfish, edited by Cass, CC0.

This page was last edited on 2026-09-25 02:04:49.

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