7 January 2016

vigesimation
(alternative form of vicesimation)

[vy-jes-uh-mey-shun]

noun

1. the act of killing every twentieth person or destroying one-twentieth of something.

2. based on the number 20.

Origin

Probably formed by the suffixation of the Latin vīcēsimus (“twentieth”) with the English -ation on the pattern of decimation, but compare the Latin vīcēsimātiō (“a killing of every twentieth man”); the spelling vigesimation is an alteration of vicesimation under the influence of vigesimal.

Example

Any number system which passes the limit 10 is reasonably sure to have either a quinary, a decimal, or a vigesimal structure.
– The Number Concept
by Levi Leonard Conant

Today’s quote

I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by married men.

– Nikola Tesla

On this day

7 January 1943 – Death of Nikola Tesla, Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and futurist. Inventor of alternating current (A/C) electricity supply. Born 10 July 1856.

7 January 1979 – Brutal Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, is overthrown as Vietnamese forces invade Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and his army, the Khmer Rouge, were responsible for killing approximately 1.7 million people.