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Value scale
You know, Doug, when I compare the 9-point value scale, and the 10-point one, I find the former more logical: more logical to use, that is, not necessarily to conceive of. I mean, it is certainly logical to think of each value as being a 10% differential from any adjacent one, or to think of each as a certain percentage of grey. (As is the case in the Munsell scale.)
However, in practice, what really is a 20% grey? Perhaps this is only a problem if the use of that scale is not taught properly. Because, really, who cares if something is this percentage grey or that? What a painter does care about is the visual difference between one tone and another. "This one's darker than that one, but lighter than that one over there." Once you are used to one scale or another, you can instantly assign numbers: "Oh, that's a 6" or "That's about 3.5" and so on. If you're looking at coloured objects, or coloured parts of paintings, it is cumbersome to assign a percentage of grey to it.
The 9-point scale works well because you are never given any percentages to deal with and you can begin to get yourself acquainted with it by always thinking of a "half-way" point. The odd number allows for finding visual mid-points, readily. I'm sure you get the picture (I'm probably not doing the best job of explaining, in any event). Conveniently, there are three values in the lights, three in the mid-tones, and three in the darks, with infinite gradations between the extremes. But, nine definitive tones is still a very workable number. Any fewer, and the jumps between adjacent values would be too dramatic to be of practical use. Any more, and it becomes nearly impossible for the untrained eye to distinguish between adjacent values. (By the way, I know I am doing the 10-point scale a disservice here. I suppose I'm talking generally about someone trying to learn a value-scale for the first time.)
The one silly thing about the 9-point scale when it is numbered rather than given names for each value, is that it goes from 1 (lightest) to 9 (darkest). That's okay when simply looking at it, but when describing something as having a "high" value, you are actually talking about a low number. The reverse, of course, with the low values. That is, frankly, illogical. This is all the more confusing when discussing values with someone who uses the 10 point scale. I find it is best to have plenty of wine on hand in those situations so that the confusion can ultimately be attributed to the booze.
Juan
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