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Cistercian Numbers; are an extremely interesting and basically forgotten number system developed 8 Centuries Ago. It is much more compact than Arabic and Roman systems, you can basically write any integer from 1 to 9999 with one character. @archeohistories #Numbers 62 comments
  @globalmuseum  @PaulWermer @globalmuseum hm, most of us learned the meaning of at least 26 letters + 9 numbers + at the very minimum a dozen other common symbols, sure, it's work to learn that new set, but i'm sure anyone can, with a bit of practice, like with a game dedicated to learning that system, and playing it a few hours over a few weeks. And there is a clear logic to it, each corner represent an order of magnitude, and the symbol in that corner represents the value for it, so you learn 9 shapes. @tshirtman @PaulWermer @globalmuseum Even less to learn: only the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 6. Zero is obviously "nothing", the missing digits are combinations of the rest. @ridscherli @PaulWermer @globalmuseum that makes me wonder about how to compute with that, addition should be ok, but other operations are probably harder than arabic notation. @tshirtman @PaulWermer @globalmuseum Good question. I think I'll give it a try with what we call (in German) "written addition" and "written multiplication".  @PaulWermer @globalmuseum it's only 9 characters + 4 position defined bases @duckwhistle @PaulWermer @globalmuseum @snaggen @PaulWermer @globalmuseum @duckwhistle @PaulWermer @globalmuseum @snaggen @PaulWermer @globalmuseum and I expect that's intentional, but I would say adds unnecessary complexity since the building of unit symbols is not consistent (combination symbols start at 5 then skip 6 and 4 is not used), and there's no way to know that without memorising all of them. @PaulWermer @globalmuseum  @globalmuseum That's four decimal characters, in pairs, using different—albeit simpler—glyphs, with one pair mirroring the other. The glyph for zero is a single vertical line.   @globalmuseum almost like four mini characters but I still find it super cool! Wonder if it has any weird tricks to make certain calculations easier for humans... @globalmuseum  @failedLyndonLaRouchite @globalmuseum It's like when Germans say, "We have a single word for that", and it's really 8 words strung together. :)  @jamesbritt @failedLyndonLaRouchite @globalmuseum Dann gebe aber einen Achtwortbeispielbeweis. @failedLyndonLaRouchite @globalmuseum have you ever seen any east Asian characters? This is mildly complex at most! @globalmuseum How well does it lend itself to numerical calculations? My gut feeling is that it would be difficult, @jamesbritt @globalmuseum it's in base ten, so it shouldn't be that difficult for mathematicians to adjust. But there is probably no long format, so there's a disadvantage to those teaching/learning.   @globalmuseum I made a number system for the missus due to her dyslexic tendencies and used the same glyph for 7k (as 7) and 9k (as 9) but I used 1k for 5, as I just used a dot for 1. @globalmuseum Reminds me of the Kaktovik numerals ⤵ @nojhan @globalmuseum Now that's a logical design! If you need a numbering system for communicating with aliens, that would work. The Roman numerals are basically abbreviations of the words. However, Romans used the abacus and even had a pocket abacus with sliders. Was there some notation used by bookkeepers to directly record the base 10 numbers off the abacus? I'd think someone would have invented one just out of laziness. @globalmuseum ça me fait penser graphiquement à un système utilisé par les médecins pour décrire aux pharmaciens la formule chimique d'un médicament @globalmuseum this is really clever but I don't like the disconnected 6s and don't understand why they didn't flipped triangle soo 6 is to 3 like 5 is to 4.  @globalmuseum I wonder how they divided or multiplied three or four digit numbers 🤯  BTW it's actually 4 characters in 4 sectors bound; what happens if you horizontally flip the image?! you are fucked, like 69/96 @globalmuseum Cool, has someone already written a tool to convert ISO-8601 formatted date and time to Cistercian numbers? I imagine that it can be done with just 3 numbers omitting all signs like "-" in between.  Appart from being compact, do they have any other advantage? what about their math operations ? @colin_brosseau @globalmuseum their math operations be as in base10 system, as it is just a different notation of decimal +-*/ etc shall function as we are used to  @globalmuseum also this looks intimidating but once you remember the basic shapes its super easy. each sequence is the same but mirrored @globalmuseum I am pleased to see that someone has created an LED clock based on this.  I think there is more cognitive overhead. Anyone might say that about a non-native unlearned second system or language however.  @globalmuseum @hobyte if the monks could count that high, two adjacent figures I suppose? My guess is they switched units, like you don’t say 123000 kg but you say 123 tons (ton = Mg). @globalmuseum but do they have #Unicode codepoints? (This cries for a base vertical line glyph plus 36 combining characters, and it’d even work well in bitmap fonts for #xterm) @globalmuseum particulièrement ingénieux... la correction des copies devait être rigolote à l'époque 🤔 |
Gregory's Server
@globalmuseum not entirely forgotten
https://extkits.co.uk/product/cypher-of-the-monks-clock/