Ishango Bone History

One of the exceptional Mayan achievement was their number system. The numbers were represented by dots, lines, and shapes that

In the book The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa is about a new housekeeper who works for an ex-mathematics Professor whose memory last only eighty minutes due to a car accident in his past. In the book, one quote that speaks to me about math is “I realized that he talked about numbers whenever he was unsure of what to say or do. Numbers were also his way of reaching out to the world. They were safe, a source of comfort” (Ogawa 7). This quote changed my perspective about numbers because according to the book the Professor repeatedly asked the same set of question to the new housekeeper, the narrator. Every morning he would ask her what is her shoe size, telephone number, or perhaps zip code and etc. With this idea, it made me realize

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence is the ability to “calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations” (Gardener 1). Symbolic deductive and inductive thinking patterns are the result of this. Tallies of the Lebombo Bone portray the use of the oldest mathematical instrument of existence, found in 35,000 B.C.E. at the age of the Neanderthals. For counting the Neanderthals had 29 markings upon this baboon bone. A later Ishango Bone was found in 20,000 B.C.E. This shows that the complex algorithms solved today started from the counting upon bones in Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.

After looking over the symbols they created and how they were simple and understanding, I realized that the Mayans were way ahead of their time. All they used were dots and lines and as a zero, it was just a rugby ball looking thing. Instead of creating 400 different symbols to create just the number 400, they used four symbols and just changed the combination of them differently. Forty used three symbols, one rugby ball symbol and two single dots. Four hundred used three symbols too, two rugby ball looking symbols and just one single dot. By far more the one of the better in complex number systems. Compared to the Aztecs, who had feathers for 400 and finger symbols for 1, the Mayan’s number system was easy, with just dots and lines.

Although the west did have its own cultivation of knowledge, the majority of westernized thinking originated in India and other Southern Asian countries. The people of India invented Hindi numerals. Arabs gave these numerals the title, ‘Hindi numbers’. These numerals included the concept of zero and allowed mathematicians to make fast, accurate calculations. Once Arabs had begun using the Indians numerals and concept of zero, Europeans were then introduced to these concepts and called them ‘Arab numerals’. Chinese used Indian mathematical concepts but advanced the ideas which allowed them to expand in that field of knowledge. The methods that the Chinese used based off of the ideas of Indians, shows how methods were spread. Since the

The chapter illustrates the connection between math and language by expressing the explicit differences between two cultures. He compares the brevity of Chinese numbers to those of English numbers. For example, the words for Chinese numbers are most likely monosyllabic, resulting in a lesser time to say and process them. The number seven in the Cantonese dialect of Chinese is pronounced as “qi” (Gladwell). This brief number system can be beneficial to toddlers and children learning how to speak and perform simple mathematical functions. A child will better process numbers in the Chinese number system rather than those of the English number system, and early learning can help a child’s brain grow more rapidly as the child grows older. The Chinese language can be seen as advantageous because it helps with processing the number system. This connection between language and math can be seen in other real-world situations, as

A similarity between the ancient Egyptians and Greek is the use of what is now known as geometry. It is currently thought that the Egyptians had introduced the earliest fully-developed base-ten numeration system, this system was introduced around 2700 BCE, and was based. On people having ten fingers (story of mathematics). A famous document of the time was the Rhind Papyrus, created 1650 BC, and contained information and exercises to show the “Correct method of reckoning, for grasping the meaning of things and knowing everything that is, obscurities and all secrets.” (Washington.edu). The Egyptians had also approximated the area of

”. Based on this article the prehistoric humans that they claimed lived in the area of California 130,000 years ago might have been a species that they were familiar with, but its not for sure. This information was from a journal that came from an uncovering of Mastodon bones near San Diego. According to the article the earliest piece of evidence that people existed in America was less than 15,000 years old. Based on the information provided the author thought that if humans existed so many years ago then they might not be similar to any living people. This and other information leads the author to believe that the discover of these unknown settlers might be a part of an extinct group. Demere a paleontologist said that the information found from the discovery of these mastodon bones has brought out many questions as to who these unknown people were, who supposedly lived 130,000 years ago.

The reason to why their number system is truly their most remarkable achievement is because it would already be hard to make a number and then have to give it a name of what you or anyone would call it. Not only did they make their own number system, but they also understood. It can be very difficult to make your own language or number system and understand it. It is also very remarkable because at their time not a lot of cultures had the knowledge of the zero, they did.

The Maya scribes loved decoration and complexity for its own sake as a result each number from 1 to 20

The Mayans used math and it would be one of their Greatest Achievement. They used Roman numerals for their numbers and math. Also their math was probably used for building their pyramid, homes, and statues. Also for how old the mayans were. They probably counted the resources that they had.

The earliest artifact relating to numbers is a bone with scratch marks on it from 150,000 years ago. Actual numbers seem to have started around 500 BCE in India. This was because Indians needed very precise numbers for trading and building. Indians were one of the first to write their numbers, to create decimals and use them, and to use the number zero.The numbers that the Indians created are known as Arabic numerals.

Representational imagery in its oldest form is believed to come from the Paleolithic period, from the Aurignacian culture. Across Europe, 200 caves with paintings, sculptures and drawings displaying representational image-making were found. A female figure carved out of ivory, standing 2.4 inches tall, was discovered in fragments in southern Germany, dating to 35,000 B.C.E.

An “I”, based on one finger, was used to represent the number one, “II”, two fingers, for the number two, and “III”, three fingers, for the number three. The numeral for the number five, “V”, came from the v that your hand makes between the thumb and fore finger. “IV” was used for the number four by subtracting the first letter, “I” from “V”. The numeral “X”, or ten, came from using two hands. The numbers were made by joining

The Egyptians used sums of unit fractions (a), supplemented by the fraction B, to express all other fractions. For example, the fraction E was the sum of the fractions 3 and *. Using this system, the Egyptians were able to solve all problems of arithmetic that involved fractions, as well as some elementary problems in algebra. In geometry, the Egyptians calculated the correct areas of triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids and the volumes of figures such as bricks, cylinders, and pyramids. To find the area of a circle, the Egyptians used the square on U of the diameter of the circle, a value of about 3.16-close to the value of the ratio known as pi, which is about 3.14. The Babylonian system of numeration was quite different from the Egyptian system. In the Babylonian system-which, when using clay tablets, consisted of various wedge-shaped marks-a single wedge indicated 1 and an arrowlike wedge stood for 10 (see table). Numbers up through 59 were formed from these symbols through an additive process, as in Egyptian mathematics. The number 60, however, was represented by the same symbol as 1, and from this point on a positional symbol was used. That is, the value of one of the first 59 numerals depended henceforth on its position in the total numeral. For example, a numeral consisting of a symbol for 2 followed by one for 27 and ending in one for 10 stood for 2 × 602 + 27 × 60 + 10.