K01113 - 20200215120013 - Chapter 1 History of Math

Chapter 1
Early Number Systems and Symbols

What is mathematics?
“The root of the term mathematics is the Greek word
mathemata, which is used quite generally in early writings
to indicate any subject of instruction or study.” Burton
“science of number and magnitude” Boyer

“
– study of relationships using numbers: the study of the
relationships among numbers, shapes, and quantities.
– calculations: the calculations involved in a process, estimate, or
plan
Encarta World English Dictionary”
Early mathematics dealt with the ideas of

Numbers or counting, magnitude/size,
form/shapes in geometry, calendars, clocks to
distinguish time and date.
What we know as mathematics has come a long

way.
Before the symbols appeared, early human

civilizations used different methods of
counting/tallying. (tally – tailler is French which
means to cut)
Some of these methods include:
1)Tallying by groups on shinbones of wolfs
2)Tallying using pebbles/rocks
3)The English tally sticks (from it came the stocks)
4)The Peruvian knots as numbers called quipus.
What Westerners believe to be the earliest

recorded mathematical symbol originates form
Egypt as early as 3500 B.C. The earliest form of
their recording of numbers are referred to as
Hieroglyphics.
These early records can be found on items like
The Narmer Palette (tgk kat wikipedia), The
Book of the Dead
What is hieroglyphics?
It is a system of writing that is called picture
script, “in which each character represents a
concrete object.”
Hieroglyphics were recorded on stones or metal.
Thus, they were difficult to produce and so were
used only for significant documentations.
Properties of Hieroglyphics:
- Decimal system, which means that they counted by
powers of 10,
- Special pictographs are used for each power of 10, 1,
10 – 10,000,000 (Page 13)
- Other numbers are expressed by repeating these
symbols additively,
- Direction of writing was from right to left
- The order did not matter since each symbol had its
unique number value, thus it is not a positional
number system (where the position of the symbol has
a different meaning like in ours)
Let’s see if we can do some translations !

Let’s do Page 18/1b, 2c, 3b
To be able to write more readily and record

more efficiently, the Egyptians found an
inexpensive method. They invented the papyrus
(read page 15).
Most of the writing was done by Egyptian
priests who improved on the hieroglyphics by
creating a new form of writing called “demotic”
(popular) script.
“Demotic” scrips was still based on powers of

10, however it was not repetitive as the
hieroglyphics, but rather it used a single mark to
represent a collection of like symbols, called
“cipherization”. (Look at the bottom of Page 15)
(Drawback: Too many symbols to remember, not
too many people used it.
Around the 5th century the Greeks of Ionia also

constructed their own numerical system, called
ciphered numeral system. (Lots of symbols to
memorize as well. Page 16)
The interesting thing about this system was that
the symbols had dual roles. They both
represented numbers and letters. This lead to
number mysticism known as “gematria”.
Properties of the Greek Ionian system:

- Additive system
- Decimal system
- The symbols were arranged in a special order,
the highest multiple of 10 to the left and the
lowest to the right,
- Very easy if you can remember all the
numbers.
Let’s see if we can do some Ionian Math !

Let’s try Page 19/5a, e, 6d
A region near Egypt was also very influential in

early number system development. We will refer
to this region as Babylonia, the plain between
the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the Greeks called
Mesopotamia. Today, this region is in Iraq.
The Babylonian Cuneiforms were formed shortly
after 3000 B.C.
Properties of Babylonian Cuneiforms

- Picture writing similar to hieroglyphics
- Writing was done on clay with a tool called
reed or later called stylus with a triangular
end, they made impressions into wet clay with
it.
- Had to write quickly as the clay dried fast, but
was almost indestructible when it was dry.
- Positional number system (the position of the

number has meaning, the position creates
value, place value system.),
- Two symbols/wedges were used repeatedly,
so easy to remember,
- Base 60 was used we call it sexagesimal
(moving to the left by one increased the value
by a factor of 60)
Problem: NO place holder for zero. So, it is

almost impossible to be certain of a number,
unless the content makes it clear. This is only a
problem in a positional system. In about 300
B.C. they developed a symbol for place holders
(page 25).
(Zero – omicron came into use around A.D. 150 in a
Greek astronomer, Ptolemy as a place holder not so
much as number.)
Let’s do some examples:

Page 31/1b, 2c, 4a
Another wonderful number system, which we

lost a lot of information on is the Mayan number
system from the Americas.
It was a place value system,
Numbers were represented symbolically in two
forms, one for the priests and one for the common
people using a combination of bars and dots. (short
horizontal bar represents 5 and dot represents 1,
see page 7 representing numbers up to 20
-Beyond 20 the numbers were expressed

vertically each position up was multiplied by 20,
a sort of base 20, as the third position was
multiplied by 18 x 20, and not 20 x 20, since 360
was a number they used to count a year.
Let’s try our hands at: Page 31/14a,
We have very little in the dating of how early the

Chinese had numbers written down. The
method of recording in China was using
bamboo, which did not do well over time in
the Chinese climate. However, we do have
some remnants and from these we believe
that the Chinese had written positional
numeration system by 1400 B.C.
In the exercises you will find two different forms

of number systems, that you shall experiment
with in your homework !
References:
The History of Mathematics – An Introduction
by D. M. Burton
A History of Mathematics
By C. B. Boyer

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Chapter 1

Early Number Systems and Symbols

“science of number and magnitude” Boyer

Early mathematics dealt with the ideas of

What we know as mathematics has come a long

Before the symbols appeared, early human

What Westerners believe to be the earliest

Let’s see if we can do some translations !

To be able to write more readily and record

“Demotic” scrips was still based on powers of

Around the 5th century the Greeks of Ionia also

Properties of the Greek Ionian system:

Let’s see if we can do some Ionian Math !

A region near Egypt was also very influential in

Properties of Babylonian Cuneiforms

- Positional number system (the position of the

Problem: NO place holder for zero. So, it is

Let’s do some examples:

Another wonderful number system, which we

-Beyond 20 the numbers were expressed

We have very little in the dating of how early the

In the exercises you will find two different forms

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