Is it a stupid idea to have another word for twelve?

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The Romans. There was 12 ounces in a Roman pound and 12 pounds in a Roman stone. A carat of diamond is 1/144 Roman ounces. There was 12 lines in an inch and 12 inches in a foot. I could go on if you like. The old myth that you can't multiply in Roman numerals disappears if you know to work in 12s instead of 10s like you were taught.

Pi 3:14 (talk)01:54, 4 June 2012

I thought the problem with multiplying in Roman numerals was their lack of positional notation?

Mjollnir.svgListenerXTalkerX02:02, 4 June 2012

Again that is limiting the problem to our way of thinking. CXII = C + X + II so if you wish to multiply it by XIV you multiply (C+X+II).(X+IV) = C.X + C.IV + X.X + X.IV + II.X + II.IV = M + CD + C + XL + XX + IIX = MDLXIIX. You can make your life even easier thinking of IV as V - I.

Pi 3:14 (talk)02:25, 4 June 2012

trippin'

Still, Roman numerals take up all kinds of space

"Shut up, Brx."02:38, 4 June 2012
 
 

Thanks, Pi, good stuff. Can you illuminate me on the Sumerians?

"Shut up, Brx."02:12, 4 June 2012

The Sumerians had a weird system that could have been base 10 if they had wanted. They got to 59 by writting 5 ten symbols and 9 one symbols, but instead of writing 6 ten symbol, they put 1 one symbol in the next position. 60 has the nontrivial factors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30, where as 10 only has 2 and 5. My guess that it is because 60 is divisble by 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, they liked it for dividing circles.

Pi 3:14 (talk)02:50, 4 June 2012

Dividing circles?

"Shut up, Brx."03:07, 4 June 2012

You can learn a lot from circles, for example you can use a sequence of circles to construct an approximation of the squareroot of 2.

Pi 3:14 (talk)03:19, 4 June 2012

one, "a", only; two, pair, twin, double; three, tripplet, trine; four ummm... ok, i can't think of any for 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 that are actually used.

Now, riddle me this: why did baker's dozen come about?

Green mowse.pngGodotWhen I graduated, Cognative Science of Religion didn't even exist! now it's everywhere04:07, 4 June 2012