3 ms·
> The problems are that this is 1) hard to use for arithmetic, and 2) brittle. I wonder if these constraints are inate to the problem (inescapable trade-offs)
by college_physics 4y ago
> The problems are that this is 1) hard to use for arithmetic, and 2) brittle.
I wonder if these constraints are inate to the problem (inescapable trade-offs) or circumstantial to the particular choices of the Cistercian monks...
- AnimalMuppet 4y agoAny fixed-number-of-digits (or bits, or whatever) system is brittle against overflow. Any compressed format is hard(er) to use for arithmetic. Pretty much any grade-school kid can memorize the addition table, and can work it out on their fingers if they forget. But that table only has 100 entries. The addition tables for Cistercian numbers has 100,000,000 entries; nobody will memorize that. But maybe I'm thinking wrong. Cistercian numbers really only have 0-9, in four possible orientations. So maybe you can just add them, going from units up through thousands, writing down each quadrant as you go. (Multiplying still looks like a mess, though...)