Treacle: Countdown

It seems pointless to record the time of events using our home system. The fact that we have an intelligent civilization here indicates to me they more than likely have a number system. The others have found some sequences I think can be useful:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

The first symbol is repeated on the [tenth] symbol group, then twice on the [eleventh], and once again after that.

The input device uses the symbols again, in various places: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. That round symbol, 0, is used in the other sequence, when a single symbol becomes a pair. 1 to 12 show up again, with an F in front of each of them. There's another set of them to the side:

7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
0

Moog clued me in on the anatomy of the native: five fingers on each hand, ten in all. The sequence increases to two symbols on the tenth space. I'd bet my last coin that these guys use a base-ten system. Other signs use the ten symbols similarly: 15%, $39.95, 256GB.

There's a display using lights to make crude shapes that are similar to the numbers. When the space to the far right reaches 9, and increased once again, it becomes a 0, and the space to the left fills with a 1.

I will need to confirm this with our host, but here's my primary analysis:

0 - none. A placeholder to indicate an absence.
1 - single. A lone item.
2 - pair
3
4
5 - a single hand. Like us, it looks like they use both hands together and have a different sybol to represent each finger they are counting
6
7
8 - we're going to have to modify our minds on this one. We use a base-eight system, so to us, this number is a full set place. Not to them. We should start using local number systems for everything, so as not to confuse ourselves.
9
10 - here is the kicker. They don't have a single symbol to represent a set of all the fingers. Instead, they mark 1 again, but to the left, to indicate ONE FULL SET. And the 0 comes up again as the placeholder in the individual space.
11 - a single set AS WELL AS a single item.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 - a pair of full sets, and no standalone individuals.

I've seen they number 100 around the room. I guarantee that means a set of sets. The 256 I find probably means 2 sets of sets, 5 separate sets, and 6 individuals.

A system like this could, in theory, go on for infinity. A biological origin for counting, like us. I can't wait to see if they have a binary system for their machines like us.