Math Today

Today’s mathematicians use the Arabic system of numbers.  Some ancient numbering systems did not have the concept of “0” (zero) so they could only count to nine and had no way of expressing “none”. Perhaps it was just a shrug of the shoulders.  Then some bright guy invented “0” (zero) and the world has gone downhill from there.  Man could then express higher numbers.  This led to a new problem called “inflation”.  Politicians have used this system for years, much to the determent of the general population.  There exists a theory that the Arabic system was created using a series of acute angles.  The number (1) was a vertical line with a hook at the top.  The number (2) looked like the letter “Z” (2 acute angles).  The number (5) was constructed like a square capital “S” with a hook on the bottom leg.  Etc, etc.  The “0” was an oval with no angles

The Romans had a different numbering system that used letters in place of numbers rather than the Arabic system that used unique symbols.  This letter system surely caused the downfall of the Roman Empire and disinterest by many of the superbowl football game.

Getting back to the Arabic system; The symbols for adding (+) and subtracting (-), not to mention many other obscure symbols, led to a host of problems for the common man.  By using the “+” sign a seller could add such things as, “shipping and handling” and “sales tax” to increase the price of an item.  This led to the practice used by the consumer called “shopping around”. The seller also used the (-) sign to confuse the buyer.  The seller would price some item at an outrageous price and then mark a hundred Kopeks off the price.  This led to the buyer still purchasing a commodity at an inflated price but thinking that he got his shekels worth. (The dollar had not yet been created by the Federal Reserve)

The use of mathematics as described above led to more and more confusing practices.  First was the process of “carrying”. A series of numbers with a sum greater than ten could be calculated by using this nefarious system. Multiplication was next.  It used a system known as “times”, not to be confused with the plural of time.  Worst of the entire “simple” math systems was long division.  To do this procedure, one had to know his/her “gozentos” (example: two goes into five 2 times).  Really strange!!!   All this confusion led to a thing encountered in about the fifth grade of elementary school.  It was called the “story problem”.  An example of a story problem is as follows.  How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood.  Everyone with a mathematical bent knows that the answer is “3” but this was lost on many pupils.  This led to a form of education called “liberal arts”

We are not done as yet.  Some odd-ball invented a thing called “algebra”.   That sounds like a garment containing pond scum.  Come to think about it that may not be far off the mark.  How on earth can         X = AB?     X=X   or AB=AB.   How can it be otherwise? Beats me.  You learned the quadric equation in algebra class.  How long has it been since you have used it?  The same can be said about “factoring”

Wait, there is more!!  Sir Isaac Newton got it right with gravity but he missed the boat on Calculus.  How can 2 numbers separated by a vertical squiggly line followed by a bunch of incomprehensible drivel amount to anything

Enough ranting.   Dal