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I know people underestimate the impact. Before the 1800s or so Europe didn't have negative numbers, except for the odd mathematician who claimed you could calcu
by shiandow 3y ago
I know people underestimate the impact. Before the 1800s or so Europe didn't have negative numbers, except for the odd mathematician who claimed you could calculate with them even if they were obviously meaningless.
It was only after bookkeeping became ingrained into all levels society that negative numbers were considered equally real as positive numbers.
- nyrikki 3y agoThey didn't have modern notation, specifically the integers as a convention hadn't been adopted by primarily Greek mathematicians like Diophantus. That is very different from understanding concepts like owing someone money, which is a form of negative. Chinese and Indian mathematicians and accounting from Babylonian times didn't have the same mental blocks. The Bakhshali manuscript is still the first known example of modernish notation I think, but used +