[seqfan] Re: Sumerian Arithmetic

[israel at math.ubc.ca]

One bit of advice: don’t call this “Sumerian Arithmetic“ if it was developed by you rather than the actual Sumerians.

Cheers 
Robert

September 12, 2021 10:04 AM, "Ali Sada via SeqFan" <seqfan at list.seqfan.eu> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
> For the last three years, I’ve been struggling with this question: How our math would have looked
> today if, in an early period of math development (say the Sumerian time), people used a different
> set of ideas to deal with basic arithmetical operations?
> So, I started developing a "new" notational system that is based on rather different ways of
> conducting arithmetic operations. The system’s cornerstones are a preservation principle and a
> uniqueness principle. Both of them don’t exist in our current system. 
> During this time, I got lucky when I discovered the OEIS. It was a much-needed experience because
> the system I developed depends entirely on sequences of positive integers.
> 
> I am writing to you now because I finally managed to know how to conduct basic operations on
> fractions using my system, without plus or minus signs, zero, or the decimal point. 
> 
> I anticipate that from now I could move much faster. I have some ideas on how to move forward with
> roots and powers, e & logs, and pi & trigonometric functions. It would definitely take a
> substantial amount of time, but I think the two principles will stand.
> 
> However, I am facing two major problems right now:
> 
> 1)      I have no idea how to graph the new system. It is not as straightforward as (negative left,
> zero in the middle, and positive on the right).
> 
> 2)      I haven’t put anything meaningful on paper. I have written a couple of pages last year but
> at that time the calculations didn’t work well in my head, so they didn’t work well on paper also.
> 
> What I need from you is to advise me on how to move forward, if possible. I am not sure how
> important this new system would be if I managed to complete the tasks I have mentioned earlier. 
> 
> Thank you for your patience.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Ali
> 
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