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Roman times math - inhentgreat - 12-11-2021
Out of curiosity, how did the great ancient romans even do math.
RE: Roman times math - qwertysimile - 12-11-2021
With an abacus of course. Roman numerals were usually only ever used to write down numbers, not to perform arithmetic with. While it may seem natural to perform arithmetic with the same set of symbols we use to write numbers down, this is only natural because you've been taught it, and it wasn't always like this throughout history like for them.
RE: Roman times math - weebified420 - 12-12-2021
Paper as we know it was invented around 105 CE in China which was around the time of the Romans.
Romans had access to papyrus paper but it was expensive. Papyrus paper has been found in tombs and was dated to around 2900 BCE. Romans definitely were known to wrote letters using pen and paper. Papyrus paper is paper, so Romans had access to it.
A tabula and stylus were the most common writing implements, wax on a wooden slab written into using a stick.
RE: Roman times math - elmo_0 - 12-12-2021
(12-12-2021, 04:54 PM)weebified420 Wrote: Paper as we know it was invented around 105 CE in China which was around the time of the Romans.
Romans had access to papyrus paper but it was expensive. Papyrus paper has been found in tombs and was dated to around 2900 BCE. Romans definitely were known to wrote letters using pen and paper. Papyrus paper is paper, so Romans had access to it.
A tabula and stylus were the most common writing implements, wax on a wooden slab written into using a stick.
What about animal hides? I think that was a thing too.
RE: Roman times math - RucyRLC - 12-12-2021
(12-12-2021, 05:01 PM)elmo_0 Wrote:(12-12-2021, 04:54 PM)weebified420 Wrote: Paper as we know it was invented around 105 CE in China which was around the time of the Romans.
Romans had access to papyrus paper but it was expensive. Papyrus paper has been found in tombs and was dated to around 2900 BCE. Romans definitely were known to wrote letters using pen and paper. Papyrus paper is paper, so Romans had access to it.
A tabula and stylus were the most common writing implements, wax on a wooden slab written into using a stick.
What about animal hides? I think that was a thing too.
Yes, they used animal parchment and tabula much more often than papyrus.
They still did have a form of paper, which was the main point I wanted to get across. They also had ink and pens I believe.
RE: Roman times math - CelticSpinner - 12-12-2021
Good question. The Romans definetely had to send a few legions, calculate how much food they need a day, where the legion will be at different times, how many replacements etc. The Romans had not formal theory but someone must have done these jobs with math.