DAISY RODRIGUEZMATH 5305

Origins of Math

The discovery of number systems began and societies created their own mathematics to fit their needs. Early accounts of mathematical sources can be dated far back as 30000 B.C. in countries like India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.

Civilizations created their own bases such as binary and decimal and devised ways to keep track of counting.

Between 100,000-20,000 B.C. tallying, ordering, and counting were the major infrastructures of mathematics in early civilizations.A look at several tribes gives a sense of how societies kept track of counting and use of equivalence which helped with communication and putting numbers to words.

The basis for counting came in viewpoints of cardinal numbers and Ordinal numbers. Cardinal numbers helped answer the foundations of quantity as opposed to ordinal which gave order in society.

Indians of the Tamanaca on the Orinoco River they assigned words to their numbers that related to human anatomy such as 5 was a referred to as a whole hand.

The Abipones, a tribe of the Paraguayan Indians had number sense by using space to keep track of the numbers in their herd.

The Dammara tribe had a sense of equivalency but could not count higher in proportional relationships. They used tobacco sticks to relate to sheep. Concept 2 tobacco sticks= 1 sheep could not do 4 tobacco stick= 2 sheep

A historical in BOOK IV of The History of Herodotus details the account between the Carthaginians and a tribe in Libya and discusses the topic of equivalence. They traded gold for goods, the tribesmen would pay with gold and the Carthaginians would only take the gold if they felt it was enough for their shipment.

Ishango bone which dates to 6500 B.C. It has three columns and one of the columns has 11, 13,17, and 19 notches. A speculation arises that if this society understood that these were prime number or that it formed a primitive calendar system.

The Babylonians used clay tablets, stones, and then advanced to the use of paper.

Accounts came from those like The King Darius of Persia when he commanded his soldiers to hold their post by using 60 knots to count the days until his return.

The Incas of Peru used quipus which contained alphabetic and numeric representations and are in a threadlike 50 cm in length with braids up to 40 cm in length. In their society every village had four quipus keepers who maintained complex accounts that served like treasurer, historian, or secretary.

Even the bank of England used a double tally stick; it was very primitive for a bank to use but served its purpose before paper. It was a very secure way since tally marks were carved and then the wood would be split in half. The bank would stay with the part called the foil and the person who loan the money to the bank would keep the stock, hence the word “stockholder”.

The American Indians used simple patterns and intertwined them to make interesting designs. Spirals are very visible and skewed symmetry are part of their designs. The Indians took ownership in their artwork.

Another form of measurement used by them was to create mounds which could be 1000 years old. The construction of their bases creates circles, squares, and octagons, and right angles that reach 900 feet high with such accuracy. It is interesting to see if just plain sight help create this interesting shapes in the landscape.

May you wonder how all these societies adapted their own way of basic mahematics. mathematics started from one area and spread out spontaneously around the world. There is one universal truth that mathematics helped societies advance and grow.