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Ancient Advances In Mathematics - Term Papers

Ancient Advances In Mathematics



Ancient knowledge of the sciences was often wrong and wholly
unsatisfactory by modern standards. However not all of the knowledge of the
more learned peoples of the past was false. In fact without people like Euclid
or Plato we may not have been as advanced in this age as we are. Mathematics is
an adventure in ideas. Within the history of mathematics, one finds the ideas
and lives of some of the most brilliant people in the history of mankind's'
populace upon Earth.
First man created a number system of base 10. Certainly, it is not just
coincidence that man just so happens to have ten fingers or ten toes, for when
our primitive ancestors first discovered the need to count they ...

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is simply a modern form of the Teutonic ein-lifon.
Since those first sounds were created, man has only added five new basic
number-sounds to the ten primary ones. They are “hundred,” “thousand,” “
million,” “billion” (a thousand millions in America, a million millions in
England), “trillion” (a million millions in America, a million-million millions
in England). Because primitive man invented the same number of number-sounds as
he had fingers, our number system is a decimal one, or a scale based on ten,
consisting of limitless repetitions of the first ten number sounds.
Undoubtedly, if nature had given man thirteen fingers instead of ten,
our number system would be much changed. For instance, with a base thirteen
number system we would call fifteen, two-thirteen's. While some intelligent and
well-schooled scholars might argue whether or not base ten is the most adequate
number system, base ten is the irreversible favorite among all the nations.
Of course, primitive man ...

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of area of simple geometric figures' surfaces and
volumes, simple solutions for first and second degree equations.
Egyptians used a base ten number system most likely because of biologic
reasons (ten fingers as explained above). They used the Natural Numbers
(1,2,3,4,5,6, etc.) also known as the counting numbers. The word digit, which
is Latin for finger, is also another name for numbers which explains the
influence of fingers upon numbers once again.
The Egyptians produced a more complex system then the tally system for
recording amounts. Hieroglyphs stood for groups of tens, hundreds, and
thousands. The higher powers of ten made it much easier for the Egyptians to
calculate into ...

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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 2/21/2007 12:10:30 AM
Category: Education
Type: Free Paper
Words: 1664
Pages: 7

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