Capturing the human mind through mathematics.

[Freixel]

I was thinking about this... the history of mathematics...

The first 9 numbers are the basic ones, and all the remaining numbers are modifications, additions, multiplications, etc. of these 9 primordial numbers.

All numbers after 9 can be reduced to one of them, for example, 11 = 1 + 1 = 2.

But who established that these basic numbers had to be 9? Why didn't someone create a symbol to represent a number following 9 that wasn't a repetition of the originals (10)?

For example, I could create a mathematical sequence like this: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-*

* It's the basic number that follows 9 (not 10).

It's obvious that mathematical laws are accepted by scientific consensus or whatever... but that doesn't mean they're an immutable and infallible truth, just a human creation.

 

[Horatio Ludwiczek]

They're entirely arbitrary

I recall my computer science teacher joking the Vikings used binary code before the invention of computers

 

[Shark]

The nine “primordial numbers” exist only because humans in some ancient civilizations built the decimal system on ten fingers. It varied by culture of course.
Different cultures used different bases like 20 or 60.
But the base 10 one became the standard over time

 

[Freixel]

The nine “primordial numbers” exist only because humans in some ancient civilizations built the decimal system on ten fingers. It varied by culture of course.
Different cultures used different bases like 20 or 60.
But the base 10 one became the standard over time

I thought about the fingers, but who says that the "tenth" finger has to be a repetition of the basic numbers... it could have had any other symbol that is not a repetition that can be simplified.

time to create alien math

 

[Shark]

time to create alien math

Already doing that tbh