Denise Schmandt-Besserat, “How Writing Came About”, 1992 was the topic of earlier blog posts.
Here I present: Florian Cajori (1859-1930), “History of Mathematical Notations”, 1928. I am going use this standard reference book to assert my belief in the hypothesis of Denise Schmandt-Besserat. ATOP this blog post is the topics of pages 574-595 on “Geometry”from Florian Cajori, History of Mathematical Notation, 1928.
INTRODUCTION.
MATHEMATICS: A group of related sciences, including: algebra, geometry and calculus, concerned with the study of number, quantity, shape and space and their interrelationship using a specialized notation. Geometry means “Earth” (geo-) “measure” (-metry). The hypothesis put forth by Denise Schmandt-Besserat that clay tokens preceded cuneiform writing in quantitative communication of numerals’ (before 3,500 BC). The hypothesis is that the written communication is attributed to the use of clay tokens by shapes that are numerals’. Numerals’ are syntactic elements’ (parts of speech). The elements’ of syntax are: noun, pronoun, article, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction, interjection, preposition, and numeral.
SHAPES OF CLAY TOKENS.
Cones.
Spheres.
Disks.
Cylinders.
Tetrahedrons.
Ovoids.
Quadrangles.
Triangles.
Biconoids.
Paraboloids.
Bent Coils.
Ovals/Rhomboids.
SUMERIAN CUNEIFORM NUMERALS’.
1. 1 one 𒁹 diš
1.2 ten 𒌋 u
2.1 two 𒈫 min
2.2 six-hundred𒐞ĝešdu
2.3 half 𒈦 maš
3. 1 three 𒐈 eš₅
3.2 one-third𒑚 šušana
3.2 thirty 𒌍 ušu₃
4.1 four 𒍝 sea
5.1 five 𒐊 ia₂
5.2 thirty-six thousand 𒐬 šaru
5.4 number 216,000 𒄱 ub
5.5 fifty 𒐐 ninnu
6.1 six 𒐋 aš₃
7.1 seven 𒐌 imin
8.1 eight 𒐍 ussu
9.1 nine 𒑆
