![]() The best known sources of ancient Egyptian mathematics in the written format are the Rhind Papyrus and the Moscow Papyrus. The first proof of mathematical activity in written form came about one thousand years later. Even the earliest Egyptian pyramid proved that the makers had a fundamental knowledge of geometry and surveying skills. The earliest continuous record of mathematical activity is from the second millennium BC When one of the few wonders of the world were created mathematics was necessary. This way of record keeping is still taught today in our schools under the name of tally marks. Thus, on many caves, we see a number of marks that the resident used to keep track of his possessions such a fish or knives. The simple solution was to make a vertical mark. Soon the need to keep tally on one’s counting raised. So an amount of ten fish was ten fish, whereas ten is an adjective describing the noun fish. Man simply used the number-sounds loosely as adjectives. Of course, primitive man most certainly did not realize the concept of the number system he had just created. While some intelligent and well-schooled scholars might argue whether or not base ten is the most adequate number system, base ten is the irreversible favorite among all the nations. For instance, with a base thirteen number system we would call fifteen, two-thirteen’s. Undoubtedly, if nature had given man thirteen fingers instead of ten, our number system would be much changed. Because primitive man invented the same number of number-sounds as he had fingers, our number system is a decimal one, or a scale based on ten, consisting of limitless repetitions of the first ten number sounds. They are “hundred,” “thousand,” “million,” “billion” (a thousand million in America, a million millions in England), “trillion” (a million millions in America, a million-million millions in England). Since those first sounds were created, man has only added five new basic number-sounds to the ten primary ones. Thus our word eleven is simply a modern form of the Teutonic “ein-lifon” (”one over”). So, if he wished to define one more than ten, he simply said one-ten. When the need to count over ten aroused, he simply combined the number-sounds related with his fingers. ![]() The needs and possessions of primitive man were not many. As an object of higher thinking, man invented ten number-sounds.
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