INSTITUT PERGURUAN PERSEKUTUAN PULAU PINANG.

MATHEMATICS EVALUATION PROJECT

NUMERATION SYSTEM

NAME : NOOR FATEEN BINTI TUGIMIN(890214105914)

NURUL SAKINAH BINTI MOHD ADNAN(900618105378)
COURSE : PPISMP
CLASS : 1 BMMT1
LECTURER : MISTER TEO CHUEN TICK
SUBMISSION DATE : 15th of SEPTEMBER 2008
CONTENTS

TOPIC
Numeration System
Egyptian Numeration System
Babylonian Numeration System
Mayan Numeration System
Number Chart
Advantages and Disadvantages of Numeration System
Comparison of Numeration System with Hindu-Arabic System
The Choosen Numeration System
Broteen Numeration System
 NUMERATION SYSTEM

What is Numeration System?

Numeration systems are methods for representing quantities. In order to perform any
simple mathematical operations, you would have to begin with some kind of numeration
system.

Why numeration systems exist?

First, it is often necessary to tell the number of items contained in a collection or set of
those items. To do that, you have to have some method for counting the items. The total
number of items is represented by a number known as a cardinal number.

Numbers can also be used to express the rank or sequence or order of items. Numbers
used in this way are known as ordinal numbers.

Finally, numbers can be used for purposes of identification. Some method must be
devised to keep checking and savings accounts, credit card accounts, drivers' licenses,
and other kinds of records for different people separated from each other.
 EGYPTIAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

Egyptian numeration system was a numeral system used in ancient Egypt. It was a
decimal system, often rounded off to the higher power, written in hieroglyphs. The
hieratic form of numerals stressed an exact finite series notation, being ciphered one: one
onto the Egyptian alphabet. The Egyptian system used bases of ten.

The Egyptian method for recording quantitities is based on 10 with a symbol for 1, ten,
and each successive power of ten. A distinct hieroglypic was used for each power of 10.
There was no symbol for zero, therefore a particular symbol was omitted in a numeral
when that multiple of ten was not part of the number

Multiples of these values were expressed by repeating the symbol as many times as
needed. For instance, a stone carving from Karnak shows the number 4622 as

Egyptian hieroglyphs could be written

in both directions (and even
vertically). This example is written
left-to-right and top-down; on the
original stone carving, it is right-to-
left, and the signs are thus reversed.

Fractions

Rational numbers could also be expressed, but only as sums of unit fractions, i.e., sums of
reciprocals of positive integers, except for 2/3 and 3/4. The hieroglyph indicating a
fraction looked like a mouth, which meant "part":

Fractions were written with this fractional solidus, i.e., the numerator 1, and the positive
denominator below. Thus, 1/3 was written as:
There were special symbols for 1/2 and for two non-unit fractions, 2/3 (used frequently)
and 3/4 (used less frequently):

If the denominator became too large, the "mouth" was just placed over the beginning of
the "denominator":

Addition and subtraction

For plus and minus signs, the hieroglyphs

and

were used: if the feet pointed into the direction of writing, it signified addition, otherwise
subtraction.

BABYLONIAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

Origin

The Babylonian civilisation in Mesopotamia replaced the Sumerian civilisation

and the Akkadian civilisation. We give a little historical background to these events in
our article Babylonian mathematics. Certainly in terms of their number system the
Babylonians inherited ideas from the Sumerians and from the Akkadians. From the
number systems of these earlier peoples came the base of 60, that is the sexagesimal
system. Yet neither the Sumerian nor the Akkadian system was a positional system and
this advance by the Babylonians was undoubtedly their greatest achievement in terms of
developing the number system.

The Babylonian number system began with tally marks just as most of the ancient
math systems did. The Babylonians developed a form of writing based on cuneiform.
Cuneiform means "wedge shape" in Latin. They wrote these symbols on wet clay tablets
which were baked in the hot sun. Many thousands of these tablets are still around today.
The Babylonians used a stylist to imprint the symbols on the clay since curved lines
could not be drawn.

Symbols

Only two symbols (one similar to a "Y" to count units, and another similar to a
"<" to count tens) were used to notate the 59 non-zero digits. These symbols and their
values were combined to form a digit in a sign-value notation way similar to that of
Roman numerals; for example, the combination "<<YYY" represented the digit for 23. A
space was left to indicate a place without value, similar to the modern-day zero.
Babylonians later devised a sign to represent this empty place. They lacked a symbol to
serve the function of radix point, so the place of the units had to be inferred from context.

Their system clearly used internal decimal to represent digits, but it was not really a
mixed-radix system of bases 10 and 6, since the ten sub-base was used merely to
facilitate the representation of the large set of digits needed, while the place-values in a
digit string were consistently 60-based and the arithmetic needed to work with these digit
strings was correspondingly sexagesimal.

A common theory is that 60, a superior highly composite number, was chosen due
to its prime factorization: 2×2×3×5, which makes it divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12,
15, 20, and 30. In fact, it is the smallest integer divisible by all integers from 1 to 6.
Integers and fractions were represented identically — a radix point was not written but
rather made clear by context.

Now given a positional system one needs a convention concerning which end of the
number represents the units. For example the decimal 12345 represents

1 104 + 2 103 + 3 102 + 4 10 + 5.

Now if the empty space caused a problem with integers then there was an even
bigger problem with Babylonian sexagesimal fractions. The Babylonians used a system
of sexagesimal fractions similar to our decimal fractions. For example if we write 0.125
then this is 1/10 + 2/100 + 5/1000 = 1/8. Of course a fraction of the form a/b, in its lowest form,
can be represented as a finite decimal fraction if and only if b has no prime divisors other
than 2 or 5. So 1/3 has no finite decimal fraction. Similarly the Babylonian sexagesimal
fraction 0;7,30 represented 7/60 + 30/3600 which again written in our notation is 1/8.

Since 60 is divisible by the primes 2, 3 and 5 then a number of the form a/b, in its
lowest form, can be represented as a finite decimal fraction if and only if b has no prime
divisors other than 2, 3 or 5. More fractions can therefore be represented as finite
sexagesimal fractions than can as finite decimal fractions. Some historians think that this
observation has a direct bearing on why the Babylonians developed the sexagesimal
system, rather than the decimal system, but this seems a little unlikely. If this were the
case why not have 30 as a base? We discuss this problem in some detail below.

Now we have already suggested the notation that we will use to denote a
sexagesimal number with fractional part. To illustrate 10,12,5;1,52,30 represents the
number

10 602 + 12 60 + 5 + 1/60 + 52/602 + 30/603

which in our notation is 36725 1/32. This is fine but we have introduced the notation of the
semicolon to show where the integer part ends and the fractional part begins. It is the
"sexagesimal point" and plays an analogous role to a decimal point. However, the
Babylonians has no notation to indicate where the integer part ended and the fractional
part began. Hence there was a great deal of ambiguity introduced and "the context makes
it clear" philosophy now seems pretty stretched. If I write 10,12,5,1,52,30 without having
a notation for the "sexagesimal point" then it could mean any of:

0;10,12, 5, 1,52,30

10;12, 5, 1,52,30

10,12; 5, 1,52,30

10,12, 5; 1,52,30

10,12, 5, 1;52,30

10,12, 5, 1,52;30

10,12, 5, 1,52,30

in addition, of course, to 10, 12, 5, 1, 52, 30, 0 or 0 ; 0, 10, 12, 5, 1, 52, 30 etc.

MAYAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

The Mayan Indians lived on the Yucatan Peninsula in central America from about
200 B.C. to 1540 A.D. The Mayans used a vigesimal system, which had a base 20. This
system is believed to have been used because the Mayans lived in such a warm climate
and there was rarely a need to wear shoes, thus 20 was the total number of visible fingers
and toes making the system workable. Therefore two important markers in this system
are 20, which relates to the fingers and toes, and five, which relates to the number of
digits on one hand or foot. The pre-Columbian Mayans developed a fairly sophisticated
system of numeration, primarily for the purpose of making calenders and keeping
track of time. (A concern for quantifying the passage of time, and minding the calender,
seems to have been a characteristic of many primitive peoples, and prompted much of the
early record-keeping.

The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero (shell shape), one (a dot) and
five (a bar). For example, nineteen (19) is written as four dots in a horizontal row above
three horizontal lines stacked upon each other.

Addition and Subtraction

Adding and subtracting numbers using Maya numerals is very simple.

Addition is performed by combining the numeric symbols at each level:

If five or more dots result from the combination, five dots are removed and replaced by a
bar. If four or more bars result, four bars are removed and a dot is added to the next
higher column.

Similarly with subtraction, remove the elements of the subtrahend symbol from the
minuend symbol:

If there are not enough dots in a minuend position, a bar is replaced by five dots. If there
are not enough bars, a dot is removed from the next higher minuend symbol in the
column and four bars are added to the minuend symbol being worked on.
Zero

The Maya/Mesoamerican Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder

within its vigesimal positional numeral system. A shell glyph -- -- was used as a zero
symbol for these Long Count dates, the earliest of which (on Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo,
Chiapas) has a date of 36 BCE.

However, since the eight earliest Long Count dates appear outside the Maya homeland, it
is assumed that the use of zero predated the Maya, and was possibly the invention of the
Olmec. Indeed, many of the earliest Long Count dates were found within the Olmec
heartland. However, the Olmec civilization had come to an end by the 4th century BCE,
several centuries before the earliest known Long Count dates--which suggests that zero
was not an Olmec discovery.

EGYPTIAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• The system the Egyptians used was • Uncommon for most numbers other
simpler, and far less tedious than one and two, and also the signs
• Could put symbols in any order, were used a lot in their time.
because the value of a symbol did • There was no symbol for zero;
not depend on its position. therefore a particular symbol was
• The Egyptian Numeration System omitted in a numeral when that
compressed at ten. That is to say, multiple of ten was not part of the
ten was the count they used to number.
bundle or group lower level • Egyptian arithmetic has long been
symbols devalued because it lacks a sign for
zero and has no place-system.

BABYLONIAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

• The Babylonians were quite able to • Babylonian civilisations did invent

divide by numbers other than a symbol to indicate an empty place

 regular ones, and approximated the so the lack of a zero could not have
results to three or four sexagesimal been totally satisfactory.
places.
• The Babylonians had more regular • The Babylonians did not technically
numbers in the above sense than we have a digit for, nor a concept, of
have—any number with prime the number zero.
factors other than 2 and 5 lands us
with an unending decimal fraction: • There was no zero to put into an
e.g. ⅓=0.333… .) empty position.
• Only two symbols (one similar to a
"Y" to count units, and another • When we read the first digit we do
similar to a "<" to count tens) were not know its value until we have
used to notate the 59 non-zero read the complete number to find
digits out how many powers of 10 are
associated with this first place.

MAYAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

• The numerals are made up of three • Fairly sophisticated system of

symbols; zero (shell shape), one (a numeration,

dot) and five (a bar). • One consequence of this anomaly is
• Maya numerals can be illustrated by that the possible representations of a
 face type glyphs.they used a "place" given number are not necessarily
system (another impressive unique.
invention), with • The system had one anomaly in that
• the lowest digit signifying 1's, and the denomination increased by a
the higher places signifying more factor of 18 instead of 20 when
powers of the base which was rising from the second to the third
nominally always 20. digit.

EGYPTIAN NUMERATION SYSTEM

BABYLONIAN NUMERATION SYSTEM
MAYAN NUMERATION SYSTEM
 THE CHOOSEN NUMERATION SYSTEM

After doing the analysis of these four numeration system, we had choose Mayan
Numeration System rather than Hindu-Arabic System. Why we choose this Numeration
System? This is because:

• It is easier for us to understand this Mayan Numeration System rather than the
other three systems which are Egyptian Numeration System, Babylonian
Numeration System and also Hindu-Arabic Numeration System. Although
recently we use Hindu-Arabic System in our education, for us, Mayan
Numeration System is easier for us.
• The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero (shell shape), one (a dot) and
five (a bar). It is easy for us to write the number.
• Maya numerals can be illustrated by face type glyphs.they used a "place" system
(another impressive invention), with
• The lowest digit signifying 1's, and the higher places signifying more powers of
the base which was nominally always 20.
 BROTEEN NUMERATION SYSTEM

After doing the researches of all these four numeration systems and making our
discussion, finally we had come out with our own numeration system which the name of
our numeration system is Broteen Numeration System. This name is taken from our name
and had been created based from Hindu-Arabic Numeration System and the dimension
shape that we always use nowadays.

The rules of the system

Addition

= 4+5=9

Substraction

= 8–4=4

Multiple

= 10 x 2 = 20
Division

= 10 ÷ 2 = 5

The advantages of this number system are

• The shape of the number is simple but interesting.
• As the shape is simple, so it is easy for us to write.
• This numeration system has the easiest and the simplest rules.
• It does not have complicated calculation. All calculation problems can be solve by
the easiest way than the other number system.

The advantages of this number system is

• The symbol of the operation is quite complicated.