On 03 Feb 2015, at 00:36, John Mikes wrote:
FRIENDS - MAINLY BRUNO
(it all came out from the French numbers).
any thoughts why some numerals have specific names, others use
composites?
Example: (Fr:) onze, ...seize yet dixset etc. German elf, zwoelf yet
dreizehen...
same in English, Hungarian has composites above 10, Russian Italian
etc.
similarly. I don't know about Semitic (Arabic?), or Oriental numbers.
My 'pegs' idea shows the origin of the Roman numerals as 4 "IIII"
being the maximum
tolerable, why 5, 10 were invented with a different design, even 9
shows contempt.
I believe - 2 - is the original counting base (eyes, hands, etc.)
based on the more primitive Hungarian identification of a 1-eyed
person as half-eyed, and 1 foot lost makes you
'half footed' etc.
Any idea about the 'dozen'? 12 half tones make an octave, yet more
primitive folks had
pentatonic music (5).
All that goes before the articulate speach evolution - I think.
Well, I have books on this, it is a vast field. 6, 12, 24, 60, 36 and
360 are related to the sun and the time Earth go around the sum. They
are used as base for numbers, or congruence of numbers (that is rest
of division by natural numbers, like with the clock where either 13 =
1, or 25 = 1)
5 and 10 are related with the hand's digits, as we count on our
fingers since always.
Note that the arithmetical formula does not depend on the choice of
the base used to represent the numbers. x+y = y+x for all numbers, in
all bases.
The chinese have an interesting way to multiply the numbers, with wood
sticks, and which exploits positional digits, but works on any base.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=BE&v=Iy0_YNN-H_I
Note that for 0 you need an invisible stick! But it works.
Bruno
John M
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