Subject: [HM] Was Indian binary based on Egyptian binary?
From: Milo Gardner (milo.gardner@24stex.com)
Date: Tue Jan 25 2000 - 19:22:13 EST
Dear HM List members:
The Indian binary system is very interesting. I wonder if the timing
of this Indian application can be tract to Greece and Egypt. Note the
date that Egyptian fractions reached India, well before this date,
probably around the time of Alexander the Great.
Hidden in Greek arithmetic was the Horus-Eye binary system dating
back to the pyramid building Old Kingdom of Egypt. From an Egyptian
application, 0 and 1 where limits such that
1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + ... + 1/2n + ...,
a form that we know as binary fractions.
What may be interesting to point out is that by the Middle Kingdom,
if not earlier, zero itself was used in Egypt, as impurity, while
one was a standard for purity, perfection. Due to 'lost' mathematical
documents, foundations of Egyotian binary math may very well have
been passed along to India, 2, 000 years later.
Any other suggestions?
Regards to all,
Milo Gardner
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