| Math Mojo - Making Math Meaningful |
The Number-System We Commonly Use
The number-system which we use in every day life is the base 10 (also called the "decimal") system.
It is called the decimal system because the Latin word for ten is "decem" and we use ten symbols (or digits) in our counting system.
The digit zero holds the place for an empty column, and the digits 1 to 9 tell how many ones, tens, hundreds, etc. are in any particular column.
Ever wonder why they are called "digits"? In Latin, digit means "finger," and there are ten fingers, and we learn counting on our fingers.
Ever wonder why we use Latin for so many of our terms in math, science, and other things? Latin was the language of the Roman Empire, which ruled much of the "known world" in the years when much of science, math and other things were first being recorded. Also, those things which had been recorded in other, more ancient languages (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, etc.) were translated into Latin by many, many scholars.
Latin was the first language which was shared by a huge portion of the "civilized" world, and it made sense that many cultures adapted it as the "common language" of many fields of study, much the same as many countries use American English terms for a lot of modern things today. That way, more people from more countries can understand each other, when talking about a particular field of interest.
One more "ever-wonder-why" question: Ever wonder why, if "decem" means "ten" in Latin, that December is not the tenth month, but the twelfth? Come to think of it, "septem" is Latin for seven, "octo" is Latin for 8, and "novem" is Latin for nine. So why are September, October, and November the names of the 9th, 10th, and 11th months of the year, instead of the 7th, 8th, and 9th?
Wanna know? Send me a message.
|