tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post565738227305857362..comments2024-03-27T21:09:44.320+00:00Comments on Pat'sBlog: Pope Sylvester's AbacusUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-39090070198620179842013-05-17T19:59:10.332+01:002013-05-17T19:59:10.332+01:00Pat: The answer to your question is that it's ...Pat: The answer to your question is that it's not clear what Gerbert intended with his abacus. Apart from anything else he appears not to have really known how the decimal place value system works as he apparently had no knowledge of zero and its function.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-7924652117758524362013-05-17T18:48:33.119+01:002013-05-17T18:48:33.119+01:00Thony,
What part of papal infallibility do you no...Thony, <br />What part of papal infallibility do you not understand? :-}<br /><br />Introducing the Arabic numbers may have been part of the plan. He was a pretty good mathematician, I've heard. Why do you think he did it?Pat's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15234744401613958081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-80623329979263643062013-05-17T18:28:00.934+01:002013-05-17T18:28:00.934+01:00Sylvester's abacus is actually retrograde. A s...Sylvester's abacus is actually retrograde. A simple abacus is a perfect decimal place value number system realization. Adding number symbols to the jettons makes it less flexible and less powerful as a computing device.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-56363908867594701612012-01-20T16:44:15.397+00:002012-01-20T16:44:15.397+00:00Thanks; this is so helpful. I was not able to visu...Thanks; this is so helpful. I was not able to visualize the abacus as described -- arced columns...?<br />This is perfect.hedgemakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06903973773424738008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-51426267764135067492012-01-20T16:37:24.701+00:002012-01-20T16:37:24.701+00:00Thanks; this is so helpful. I was not able to visu...Thanks; this is so helpful. I was not able to visualize the abacus as described -- arced columns...?<br />This is perfect.hedgemakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06903973773424738008noreply@blogger.com