[X] My Assistant

[hendric]

http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_8.html#porco

Where do I sign up?

[dvandorn]

Oh, and FYI, the statement that all cultures have found and described the *same* Mathematics is not true. All human Mathematics consisted of means of counting things for many, many generations, and as such they did not use placement notation or have any symbol (i.e., "word") for the value *zero*. If you had nothing, you had no need for a symbol to denote it. That was a very basic assumption of Mathematics in almost all human civilizations -- up until the Arabs.

The Arabs stumbled upon the concept of using a Mathematical term for "nothing" and found that it allowed them to *vastly* extend the ability of Mathematics to describe the world around them.

Also, many early European civilizations used base 12 and not base 10 counting systems -- the usefulness of counting by dozens outweighed the usefulness of being able to count up any number of things on your fingers.

So, you see, not all civilizations have come to the same conclusions and used the same assumptions when it comes to the language of Mathematics. They have used different assumptions and had culturally colored views of the usefulness and extent of the language of Mathematics, as varied as the cultures themselves.

-the other Doug

[tty]

Oh, and FYI, the statement that all cultures have found and described the *same* Mathematics is not true.  All human Mathematics consisted of means of counting things for many, many generations, and as such they did not use placement notation or have any symbol (i.e., "word") for the value *zero*.  If you had nothing, you had no need for a symbol to denote it.  That was a very basic assumption of Mathematics in almost all human civilizations -- up until the Arabs.

The Arabs stumbled upon the concept of using a Mathematical term for "nothing" and found that it allowed them to *vastly* extend the ability of Mathematics to describe the world around them.

Also, many early European civilizations used base 12 and not base 10 counting systems -- the usefulness of counting by dozens outweighed the usefulness of being able to count up any number of things on your fingers.

So, you see, not all civilizations have come to the same conclusions and used the same assumptions when it comes to the language of Mathematics.  They have used different assumptions and had culturally colored views of the usefulness and extent of the language of Mathematics, as varied as the cultures themselves.

-the other Doug

It was actually the Indians who invented the zero. So did the maya quite independently.

What example do you have of a culture that has used base twelve?

tty

[dvandorn]

What example do you have of a culture that has used base twelve?

Old German and English counting systems were mostly in base 12 -- at least, most of the inventory records we see from those cultures were counting things in dozens, bushels, pecks, etc., etc.

Oh, and thanks for the comment in re the Indians. Zero was, however, a concept that completely eluded both the Greeks and the Romans.

-the other Doug