KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
COURSE: BACHELOR OF SCIENCE WITH EDUCATION(PHYSICAL
SCIENCES), ESP.

YEAR: THREE

SEMESTER: ONE

COURSE UNIT: SMT 311: HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

TASK: GROUP PRESENTATION

GROUP: GROUP ONE

LECTURE: DR. SARAH KISA

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 3RD /APRIL/2023

NO NAME REG. NO ROLE SIGN

1 ONYANGO CLINTON 20/U/ESP/9280/PD CHAIRPERSON
2 LULEVU NASANAIRI 20/U/ESP/9282/PD SECRETARY
3 KAJUMBA MARGRET 20/U/ESP/9178/PD VICE
PRISCAH CHAIRPERSON
4 MANANA ENOCK 20/U/ESP/9206/PD ASS. SECRETRY
5 ALON ALEX 20/U/ESP/9250/PD MEMBER
6 OKECHO JOSIAH 20/U/ESP/9197/PD MEMBER
7 NTABADDE HARRIET 20/U/ESP/9225/PD CHIEF WHIP
8 MANANA BENON 20/U/ESP/9208/PD MEMBER
WAKWAALE
9 NAKKU 20/U/ESP/9241/PD MEMBER
NAMULINDWA RUTH
10 KABUGO JOTHAM 20/U/ESP/9220/PD MEMBER
YES
11 ODONGO ABEL 19/U/ESP/2307/PD MEMBER

HISTORY OF COUNTING (Origin of counting in Roman, Mayan, Indians,

Chinese and Japanese).
HISTORY OF COUNTING AND NUMERALS:
The idea of numbers and process of counting goes far before history began to be
recorded (50,000 years ago). As societies and humans developed, it became
important to know members in the group, how many animals in the flock, telling
time, counting number of days and keeping records of quantities.
In order to count, one would use body parts which proved insufficient hence counting
was done using tally sticks and pebbles (small stones) so as to track the items
counted one to one correspondence though these methods could not work for the
bigger values.
Counting was invented just once and it spread throughout the world from that source,
it was introduced and developed stepwise, spontaneously arose throughout the world
less independent of place to place, tribe to tribe.
Counting was also done by counting notches into pieces of wood and even tying
knots on strings for example Ishango bone and the Lebombo bones used by Inca-
Quipus in counting days.
As counting developed, language progressed which they used to write and record
information, this as well rose up due to barter trade and need for movement from one
place to another thus leading to the development of current number system (Arabic)
since they had different number systems.
They used to write their information in symbols with bases. Abraham Seidenberg`s
method of counting is based upon remarkable number of similarities of number
systems throughout the world for example odd numbers represent males and even
numbers represent females.
Tallying:
Tally sticks and notched sticks have been used since the beginning of counting, their
use has been universal.
Tallying is the most basic form of keeping a local record about a larger world.
Babylonians used clay tabulates and Egyptians used stones which all required a
certain skill to create

Roman Number System

Roman numerals originated from ancient Rome. The Roman numeral system is a
cousin of Etruscan numerals and letters derive from earlier non-alphabetical symbols.
The system was modified slightly during the middle ages to produce the system used
today.

The first common Roman numerals are; I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX,
X. Roman numerals were used to tell time when the need rose. There is no
zero in Roman numerals.
In general, Roman numerals are written as combination of seven letters. That’s I, V,
X, L,C, D and M for 1, 5, 10, 50,100, 500 and 1000 respectively.
Rules of roman numerals.
1. Numerals of the same value are added.
2. A symbol of smaller value put on the right of the greater value’s symbol is added
to it.
3. A symbol of a smaller value put on the left of the greater value symbol is
subtracted from it.
4. A symbol of a smaller value put between two symbols of the greater value is
subtracted from the symbol on its right.

Mayan Number System

The Mayan number system dates back to the fourth century and was 1000 years more
advanced than the European number system of that time.

The system is unique compared tour current decimal system (base ten) as the Mayan
used the Vegesimal system ( base 20).

The 360 day calendar also came from Mayans and had 18 months, each month
consisting of 20 days thus making 360 days. This left 5 days at the end of the year
(365 – 360) which was a month in itself filled with danger and bad luck.

In order to write the Mayan numbers, there were only three symbols needed in this
system. A horizontal bar ( ) represented a quantity 5, a dot ( ) represented
quantity one and a special symbol (thought to be a shell, Ѳ) represented zero.

The Mayan system may have been the first to make use of zero as a number.

NOTE: In Mayan number system, there is always a limitation to 3 bars and 4 dots in
any place value.

When adding Mayan numbers together, we adopt a method that the Mayans probably
did not use but which will make life a little easier for us.
For example, the number 241,083 would be figured out and written as follows:

Decimal
Mayan Numbers Place value
Value

1 times 160,000 = 160,000

10 times 8,000 = 80,000

2 times 400 = 800

4 times 20 = 80

3 times 1 =3

The Indian number system.

The Indian number system exist in two categories; the Indian system and the international
system. The Indian system of numeration writes numbers in Indian. In this method, we use
10 symbols to represent the numbers. The 10 symbols which are used in the Indian numeral
system are; 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9.
We use tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, lakhs, crores and ten crores to count the
numbers. Based on the number of digits, we count the numbers as ones, tens, hundreds,
thousands, ten thousands, lakhs, ten lakhs and crores.

Usage of comma in india. We use commas to separate the numbers after every period of
numbers. We use commas to divide the numbers to read or understand the numbers easily.
The commas are placed post hundred position after which they are placed after every two
digits. For example; in ten crores (10000000) is 10,00,00,000

How to write Indian place value system.

We write numbers in words based on the different place values of the digits in the number.
Before writing down the numbers in words in the Indian system of arranging numbers, we
will have to consider the following;
First we need to mark the separators or commas to name the numbers.
Based on commas only, we can name numbers in the number system in India.
Eg. 48= forty-eight crores, 78= seventy eight lakhs etc.
The origin of counting in Chinese
The origin of counting in Chinese can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient Shang
Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). As mathematical development in the ancient Greek world were
beginning to shape during the final centuries BCE, the expanding trade empire of China was
leading the Chinese mathematics to ever greater heights.
The ancient Chinese later on developed a simple but efficient Chinese number system which
dates back to atleast the second millennium BCE, using small bamboo rods and knots( known
as counting rods) which they arranged to represent the numbers 1 to 9. These were placed in
columns representing units, tens, hundred, thousands etc. This counting rods system was
therefore a decimal place value system, very similar to the one we use today. Indeed it was
the first number system adopted by the Chinese over a thousand years before it was adopted
in the west and it made even quite complex calculations very quick and easy. Written
numbers, however, employed slighty less efficient system of using different symbols for tens,
hundreds, thousands etc. This was largely because there was no concept or symbol of zero,
and it had the effect of limiting the usefulness of the written number in Chinese.
Later on, Lo Shu Square was developed which was an order which was an order three square
where each row, column and diagonal adds up to 15 and this is perhaps the earliest of the
dating back to around 650 BCE. But soon, bigger magic squares were being constructed with
even greater magical and mathematical powers culminating in the eraborate magic squares,
circles and triangles of Yang Hui in the 13th century.
Origin of counting in Japanese
The origin of counting in Japanese gets back to yayoi period which lasted from around
300BC to 300AD. During this time, the Japanese used a system based on a number 10 similar
to the decimal system used today.
It is believe that the Japanese counting system was influenced by the Chinese counting. As
the Chinese had already developed a soficated system of counting and mathematics by this
time, the Japanese had adopted the Chinese characters of numbers as well as the concept of
place values which allowed the presentation of large numbers.
The Japanese counting system also includes some unique features such as special counters of
different types of objects and a system of reading numbers based on their pronunciation, code
a Yomi for example the number 4 is pronounced as Shi in Japanese which is also the word
for death.
Today, counting and mathematics remain an important part of Japanese culture and
education, with the Japanese students constantly lacking among the top performers in
international mathematic competition.
REFERENCES:
1. R.C. Archibald, outline of history of mathematics; the second Slaught memorial
paper, association of America 1949.
2. L.Hodgkin, a history of mathematics from Mesopotamia to modernity, Oxford
University, 2005.
3. E.Kramer, the nature and growth of modern mathematics; Princeton University
Press 1972.
4. S.M.Utam, Adventures of mathematics 1986.
5. E.Robson and J.Stedall, the Oxford hand book of mathematics, Oxford
University, 2009.