They earned more than we do.
It's all fine and dandy, but such a problem quickly becomes a nightmare when values greater than single digits need to be considered, and multiplied (eg., hand multiply XVIII times XXIV. Gave up?). That's when the genius of the modern base 10, place-value system with the zero and decimal place-holders, a.k.a. the "Arabic" system, comes in.
P.S: The Arabs had nothing to do with the development of this system. They stole it from the Hindus to pass off as their own.
“If the cost of digging a trench is 9 gin, and the trench has a length of 5 ninda and is one-half ninda deep, and if a worker’s daily load of earth costs 10 gin to move, and his daily wages are 6 se of silver, then how wide is the canal? “
3 widths of a boat.
"Farmer Brown had 31.2 acres planted in potatoes.
Farmer Smith had a yield of 42 bushels of oats from his proppity.
What color was the new dress Farmer Grey bought for his wife?"
Answer: "Any damn culla she wanted after she caught him with Farmer Smith's wife."
I usually drink gin only in the summer — with tonic. Don’t like to dig too many ditches then.
The same way I figured out math problems in high school. I guessed.
Go on-line and get Netflix today!!!!!!
Yeah......
Length
Smallest unit of length is the she (barleycorn), of about 1/360 meter.
6 she = 1 shu-si (finger)
30 shu-si = 1 kush (cubit - about 1/2 m.)
6 kush = 1 gi / qanu (reed)
12 kush = 1 nindan/ GAR (rod - 6 m.)
10 nindan = 1 eshe (rope)
60 nindan = 1 USH (360 m.)
30 USH = 1 beru (10.8 km.)
length conversion calculator
Area
The basic area unit is the sar, an area of 1 sq. nindan, or about 36 sq. m. The area she and gin are used as generalized fractions of this basic unit.
180 she = 1 gin
60 gin = 1 sar (garden plot 1 sq. nindan - 36 sq. m.)
50 sar = 1 ubu
100 sar = 1 iku (1 sq. eshe - 0.9 acre, 0.36 ha.)
6 iku = 1 eshe
18 iku = 1 bur
1 bur is an area 1 beru long by 1 nindan wide. area conversion calculator
Volume
Volume units are the same as the area units and follows the relationship that
1 volume-unit = 1 area-unit x 1 kush.
For example, a volume-sar is the volume of the solid with base 1 area-sar and height 1 kush (cubit).
Bricks are considered to be rectangular solids such that 720 bricks make one brick-sar. There are numerous (fairly standard) sizes of bricks in use in Old Babylonian mathematics texts.
Capacity: used for measuring volumes of grain, oil, beer, etc. The basic unit is the sila, about 1 liter. The semi-standard Old Babylonian system used in mathematical texts is derived from the ferociously complex mensuration systems used in the Sumerian period.
180 she = 1 gin
60 gin = 1 sila - 1 liter
10 sila = 1 ban
6 ban = 1 bariga
5 bariga = 1 gur
volume conversion calculator
Weight
The basic unit of weight is the mana, about 1/2 kilogram.
180 she = 1 gin/ shiqlu (shekel)
60 gin = 1 mana (mina - 500 gm.)
60 mana = 1 gu/ biltu (talent, load - 30 kg.)
http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/obmetrology.html
That gave me that old queasy feeling (same as looking at the formulas [formuli?] in those managerial finance texts.) Let’s all give thanks for the Creator giving us Texas Instruments!
Note to self: return DVDs to Netflix.
Great article, thanks. But it’s from the New York Times - can it be trusted?
Wait a minute! After nine gin, I'm kicked back with the space monkeys discussing astrophysics!
Damn, I used the same calculations for my ditch but came up with a ditch much deeper and longer. (Did I mention free beer after the dig...)