[vannrox]

Very cool.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"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.

[SpinyNorman]

I have to dust off my "Chariots of the Gods" book collection.....

[Gothmog]

Their problem now is that all their base now belong to us, ha ha ha.

[martin_fierro]

"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!

[NotQuiteCricket]

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!

[ClearCase_guy]

"We would need to find a Rosetta Yupana"

I'll check my High School Yearbook -- I think she's in there.

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[antidisestablishment]

"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.

[G.Mason]

"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.

[JohnnyZ]

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.

[sd-joe]

Cool. The Inca's came up with "bean counters". And we thought it was a modern bureaucratic invention.

[sd-joe]

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.

[PRND21]

Interesting...thanks!

[MonroeDNA]

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.

[William Terrell]

"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.

[SunkenCiv]

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)