Sunday 10 January 2016

Inca numbers

As I was going to publish I saw that Orla posted something about Quipu.
I had done my research on it too.

It does not matter becase I am adding some more details on it.
Here is what I found:

The Incas didn’t write numbers they tied knots on a string!
It is called the Quipu.
There are three strings and three types of knots.
       

The simple one is one unit up to 9 that   means that if you put three simple knots the number is three, 4 simple knots = 4…

Then there is another type of knot that needs to be different (anyone can invent it
S knots) is for the tens like 10 2 knots represents 20, 3 knots represents 30, 4 knots represents 40 ,5 knots represents 50,  6 knots represents 60…
   
The last one is the knot that represents the 100s. This knot is shaped like a 8.

The strings now …
The 1st string is for the number in the 100s for example 397.

The second string is for the 1000s like 32000. To tell you 0 in Inca is nothing so you just need to put 32, three 10 knots and 2 simple knots .

The third one is for the Billions but it is rarely used.

Now that you know the Inca numbers, here is a little quiz for you,
Answer in a comment:

Place me 342 500 on the 3 strings !

A clue: you might not need to use the 3 strings.

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