Re: More on number bases

Tim May scripsit:

> They had fractions for all numbers, but they only ever expressed them as
> unit fractions, that is 1/x.  Non-unit fractions were always expressed
> as a sum of unit fractions, and the same denominator couldn't be used
> twice.  So you got things like 6/7 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/42.
IIRC the oldest known math problem in the world is Egyptian:

        A heap, its whole, its seventh, it makes nineteen.

i.e. x + x*(1/7) = 19.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_