Why didn't the Nomai have 4 fingers?

This question may seem stupid, but it actually comes from a long series of logical deductions I made that ended up being incorrect upon actually doing research on the topic. I was thinking about why the Time Loop was specifically 22 minutes (rather than 20 or 25.)

This led me to thinking about their numerical system and to a random fact from a youtube short about how one group of humans (I don't remember which or where) counted by indicating the joints in their fingers using their thumb, resulting in a base 12 system. My hypothesis was that the Nomai had a similar system, but using three 3-jointed fingers and an opposable thumb, totalling to 11 joints, therefore leaving the Nomai with a base-11 counting system! Further, the use of hand shapes for visual communication could have been the start of writing for the species, explaining their roots and pre-space age period.

However, when I actually checked to see if my memory was correct, I was defeated by seeing three measly digets on their hands, which leads me to the question: why did they only have three fingers, and further, why did they seemingly use a base 11 system? If they were using their hands for numerics, it would have to be in base-8 or base-3, neither of which would make sense for 22 minutes specifically!

Am I prying to deep into the funny groundhog day space video game? Yes. Am I still curious? Also yes. Is my Neurodivergence showing? Absolutely. Also sorry if this is too wordy I almost never post on reddit.

TLDR: Nomai having 4 fingers would explain stuff but they only have 3.

Edit: As some commenters have informed me, I misremembered the order of events that happen in the nomai history. The 22 minute loop was actually created due to a hypothesized amount of time for the probe to reach the Eye. It is still an interesting thought, though.