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Article: Mathematics, Very Old
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Mathematics, Very Old
From the dawn of civilization, humankind has needed to count and measure. Even the earliest civilizations developed effective and efficient number systems. Ancient mathematics is surprisingly sophisticated and, in many cases, quite similar to the mathematics used today.
Tally Bones
An early evidence of a "mathematical system" was found on a bone discovered in the Czech Republic. It dates from about 30,000 b.c.e. The bone contains fifty-five individual tally marks, divided into eleven groups of five marks each, just as tally marks might be grouped today. There is a dividing line, separating the first twenty-five marks from the remaining twenty, that makes totaling ...