To continue with the basics, an engineer can’t get any more basic than 10. Base ten is what we use in scientific notation and in the metric system. It is no wonder that people typically say, “On a scale from one to ten, what did you think of…”

10 is the basic of basic, other than, maybe, 1, but let’s not get into an argument about that now.

Just being the root of the metric system, 10 gets my vote as being one of the all time great numbers, possibly the greatest. We have discussed the power of 10 before, and covered the number 1000, but the these have their roots, literally and figuratively, in the number 10. In fact, if you bring up the number 10 to an engineer, he will have an affinity for the conversation, even if he doesn’t know why. That number is so powerful and ingrained in the engineer’s wiring.

For non-engineers, try it next time you, say, see a bunch of cute bunnies. There are 8 or 9 of them. But tell the engineer there are 10 of them, and he may well listen to you go on about how cute they are. Otherwise, if he thinks there are 8 or 9, the whole aesthetics thing just won’t sink in.