An analysis of nonpositional numeral systems

DOI10.1007/S00283-009-9034-1MaRDI QIDQ1026608zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Christopher Hollings

Publication date 25 June 2009

Published in The Mathematical Intelligencer (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s00283-009-9034-1

zbMATH Keywords

nonpositional notationnumeral systemspositional notation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Ethnomathematics (general) (01A07) History of Greek and Roman mathematics (01A20) History of number theory (11-03)

Review text

This paper presents a simple mathematical framework to describe, analyze, and compare various numeral systems, including those of the Sumerians, Greeks, and Romans. The author deals with issues such as subtractive notations (e.g., Roman IV) and systems based on more than one number (e.g., the two numbers 5 and 10, in both Attic and Roman numerals).

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Cites work

• Fundamental Steps in the Development of Numeration
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3946070 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3521899 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1419153 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3303094 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3059589 (Why is no real title available?)
• Minoan Mathematics
• Number Systems and Arithmetic
• The antecedents of Old Babylonian place notation and the early history of Babylonian mathematics

Cited in

(5)

• Analysis of alternative digit sets for nonadjacent representations
• Methodological reflections on typologies for numerical notations
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• Mayan, Aztec and Incan numeral system
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