Very cool.
1 posted on
02/03/2004 6:05:00 AM PST by
vannrox
To: vannrox
"How would one explain the many statements in the Spanish chronicles, both those written by Spaniards and by literate Andeans, who stated quite straightforwardly that the Inca used a base 10 counting system? Well, we use a base 10 counting system in everyday life, but we use a base 2 counting system in our calculating machines.
2 posted on
02/03/2004 6:11:16 AM PST by
E. Pluribus Unum
(Drug prohibition laws help fund terrorism.)
To: vannrox
I have to dust off my "Chariots of the Gods" book collection.....
To: vannrox
Their problem now is that all their base now belong to us, ha ha ha.
5 posted on
02/03/2004 6:28:51 AM PST by
Gothmog
To: vannrox
"It took me about 40 minutes to solve the riddle. I am not an expert on pre-Columbian civilizations. I simply decoded a 16th century drawing from a book on mathematical enigmas I received as a Christmas present," engineer Nicolino De Pasquale said. Memo to self: Must party sometime with that guy. Wooo hooo!
8 posted on
02/03/2004 6:41:24 AM PST by
martin_fierro
(97.238 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot)
To: vannrox
How dare this man, this person think that he figured something out, when archaeologist have beaten their heads against this problem for decades! The nerve. He should have just shut up and not even bothered to mention it. Everyone knows that the only person who can make a judgment on something like this, is someone who has gone to university to study it. The arrogance of this fool to assume that he can understand this is amazing!
To: vannrox
"We would need to find a Rosetta Yupana" I'll check my High School Yearbook -- I think she's in there.
16 posted on
02/03/2004 6:50:22 AM PST by
ClearCase_guy
(I'm having an apotheosis of freaking desuetude)
To: Howlin; Ed_NYC; MonroeDNA; widgysoft; Springman; Timesink; dubyaismypresident; Grani; coug97; ...
Just damn.If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
17 posted on
02/03/2004 6:50:33 AM PST by
mhking
To: vannrox
"How would one explain the many statements in the Spanish chronicles, both those written by Spaniards and by literate Andeans, who stated quite straightforwardly that the Inca used a base 10 counting system? This system is also attested in a mountain of early colonial documents that describe how the Inca organized their administrative system according to a base 10 counting system." It couldn't be that the Spaniards might have understood the system incorrectly. After all, we know how interested they were in cultural understanding:
the Inca ruled the largest empire on Earth by the time their last emperor, Atahualpa, was garroted by Spanish conquistadors in 1533.
Brilliant mathematicians those conquistadors! Outsiders bring a fresh perspective to "intractable" issues. Never look to experts for novel ideas.
21 posted on
02/03/2004 7:02:31 AM PST by
antidisestablishment
(Our people perish through lack of wisdom, but they are content in their ignorance.)
To: vannrox
"
The Inca invented a powerful counting system that could be used to make complex calculations without the tiniest mistake ....... "
Well it couldn't have been very reliable.
Either that or they never divided 200 Spaniards into the Incan population and came up with extinction.
28 posted on
02/03/2004 7:13:30 AM PST by
G.Mason
(Mediocrity in politics is not to be despised. Greatness is not needed.)
To: vannrox
Gary Urton, professor of Precolumbian studies at Harvard University, an authority on khipu research, told Discovery News: "The fact that an explanation can be constructed for one or even several yupana that conforms to this theory of a base 40 numbering system amongst the Incas is of some modest interest. Always nice to see my boy Gary being quoted. Good guy. I gave a talk on Incan mathematics once. They did some pretty complex stuff, nobody really knows how. I'd have to read more about this theory to form an opinion.
29 posted on
02/03/2004 7:20:04 AM PST by
JohnnyZ
To: vannrox
Cool. The Inca's came up with "bean counters". And we thought it was a modern bureaucratic invention.
52 posted on
02/03/2004 8:57:16 AM PST by
sd-joe
To: vannrox
From the explanation of how to use the abacus, it looks like a base 10 device to me. Don't see no base 40 there.
53 posted on
02/03/2004 8:58:47 AM PST by
sd-joe
To: vannrox
Interesting...thanks!
69 posted on
02/03/2004 11:26:41 AM PST by
PRND21
To: vannrox
PhD's who study this for a living are going to have three cows:
1. It was decoded by a lowly BSEE.
2. He is not in their field.
3. They couldn't think of it first.
The dude is going to get trashed.
80 posted on
02/04/2004 4:38:16 PM PST by
MonroeDNA
(Soros is the enemy.)
To: vannrox
"Instead, all scholars based their calculations according to a base 10 counting system. But calculations made to base 40 are quicker, and can be easily reconverted to base 10," . . . "How would one explain the many statements in the Spanish chronicles, both those written by Spaniards and by literate Andeans, who stated quite straightforwardly that the Inca used a base 10 counting system? This system is also attested in a mountain of early colonial documents that describe how the Inca organized their administrative system according to a base 10 counting system."
The answer to the last paragraph is found in the first.
86 posted on
02/05/2004 4:05:24 PM PST by
William Terrell
(Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
To: vannrox
Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.
Please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks. Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
96 posted on
08/15/2005 4:16:15 PM PDT by
SunkenCiv
(Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated by FR profile on Sunday, August 14, 2005.)
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