Was the steel alphabet numbering system different during The Final Empire?

[datalaughing]

So I bookmarked this very old topic (i'm not allowed to link to it as a new member, but you could find it with this info if you needed to: forum/topic/1157-glyphs-as-a-number-system/?page=2 ) some time long ago because I was fascinated by the way the steel alphabet worked as a numbering system, and that topic explained it pretty well. 

Recently, this took on a new importance since I wanted to use the symbols to number Mistborn-related episodes of my new podcast. So I dug out this old bookmark and started looking into it again, and I realized that this system is probably specific to era 2. After all, it includes symbols for several metals that weren't in use during the days of The Final Empire. 

Being a bit obsessive about these kinds of details, I feel like the episodes about era 1 should be numbered correctly based on the numbering system they would have used during era 1, if it was different, but I could not find anything that discussed that.

So, did they number things differently back then? Was the system based on 10 (for the 10 known metals) instead of 16? Do we know?

[Karger]

Quote

FireOx

Do we know the exact purpose for creating 3 different symbols for each book's metals (chapter symbols)? Is it for the 3 metallic arts? If so, which belong to which?

Isaac Stewart

Hi FireOx! The three sets of symbols show the progression of the Allomantic text through the ages. The earliest script is from Hero of Ages. It was changed and modified into the Terris script symbols we see in Well of Ascension. After more time, the Terris script morphed into what is now known as the Allomantic Alphabet or the Steel Alphabet, which are the symbols used in Mistborn: The Final Empire. We've extrapolated the Steel Alphabet into a script that's more-standardized and refined for the chapter headings in Alloy of Law, which takes place 300 years after Hero of Ages.

Miscellaneous 2012 (Jan. 24, 2012)

 

[Honorless]

Ooh, I didn't pay attention to the Mistborn chapter heading symbols and it didn't even occur to me that they might use a non decimal number system, thanks for the link. They use base 16 huh, and the Rosharans use base 10

Yeah, the symbols did evolve over time from the Final Empire to what we see post-Catacendre, before that the Steel Alphabet was originally based on the Terris alphabet

Here's a link with the symbols: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Steel_alphabet