Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
ISSN: 2455-5703
Abstract
The Greek number system was immensely interesting in respect to their approach and methodology, which were uniquely based
upon their alphabets. Twenty four letters of Greek alphabets were in use with additional three strange antique letters , , and
along with the symbol M (Myriad representing numbers more than ten thousands).Greek Mathematicians, one of the very
important contributions was in giving some ideas of fractions. In case of describing bigger numbers like lakhs and crores, they
employed unique approach called Tetrads and Octads. With such kind of numerology, they were able to perform all the
arithmetical operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division etc. but did not spend much effort attempting to justify
these operations. Autors‟ belief is to present an amount of assessment collected from various sources about the contributions of
Greeks in the way of advancement of Mathematical evolution.
Keywords- Attic System, Herodianic Sign, Alphabetic Numerals, Tetrads, Octads, Arithmetical Operation, Apollonius,
Continued Multiplication, Square Root
I. INTRODUCTION
We can stand as base with several texts and literatures written in Greek language, which were developed approximately during
the period of 6th century BC to 5th century AD. It is appealing and encouraging sign of the times that more and more our
acknowledgement was attracted to pay due appreciation with a clear understanding of the gift of the Greeks to mankind. The
very important contributory aspect of Greek Mathematics is the major shift from its earlier fragmented concepts to a smooth
interwinding growth as a subject along with the inventions, theories, proofs and their implementations/applications. This is of
paramount importance and major shift towards overall progress and dividends in Mathematics.
The first nine letters of Greek alphabet as shown in table no 4.1 were associated with the first nine integers as found in
modern numerals, the next nine letters represented the first nine integral multiple of 10 and the last nine letters were used for the
first nine integral multiples of 100. So we can infer that they were well versed in array system of ascending form; and at the same
time base of 10 i.e, decimal system.
In Greek numeral systems, larger numbers were also available, which are appeared below-
As indicated earlier, we find here base of 10. They also wrote the numbers from right to left i.e, position / place value
way. They placed unit number first in right, then place tenth in one left, then hundredth and so on. Once idea of place value is
available, one can represent large numbers and they have ample knowledge about that Arithmetic.
Example: - 91755876 =
C. Fraction
An ordinary proper Fraction was expressed in various ways. Fractions was denoted by first writing the numerator marked with an
accent and then followed by two accented numbers representing the denominator and written as twice. Thus ’ ” ”
and . In case of Fractions having unity for the numerator, the ’ was omitted and denominator
was written only once. Thus ” .
There are a few differences in Diophantus numeral system when compared to their system. In this system, the
numerator of any Fraction is written in the line, with the denominator above it, without any accents or marker. A line is put
between the denominator above and the numerator below, which describes in Tannery edition of Diophantus. Thus we can say,
. A few more examples from Diophantus be given below-
(1)
(2)
They expressed the Fractions as the sum of submultiples, when numbers are partly integral and partly fractional. Thus from the
previous table ; etc. Also expressed the large numbers by writing the numerator first and the
denominator and separated by ’, which means the Fractions are expressed as the numerator divided by the denominator:
D. Arithmetical Operations
The arithmetic operations are complex in that so many symbols are used. For addition and subtraction, the Greek would keep the
several powers of 10 separate in a manner practically corresponding to our system of numerals, the hundreds, the thousands etc
being written in separate vertical rows.
Example of addition represented bellow- Example of Subtraction be represented bellow-
Greek multiplication method was somewhat different from Egyptian method. This method dependent on the direct use
of multiplication table. When they multiply two numbers, they wrote the numbers in two columns. First is multiplier and second
is multiplicand. Then they wrote half of the number in first column of the preceeding row and double the number in second
column of the preceeding row and so on, until they have 1 in first column. Then cuts the all numbers in the second column which
are opposite even numbers in first column and odd all the numbers left in second column, which is the required result.
Example :- 203 is to multiplied by 81
81 203
40 406
20 812
10 1624
5 3248
2 6496
1 12992
16,443 = 81 x 203
The great commentator Eutocius of 6th century AD, gives a great many multiplications appear at the left and a numerical
translation of the symbols and operations at the right are from his commenries on the third proportion of Archimedes on the
measure of the circle.
The multiplicand is considered first. Then multiplier is written below where kept before the multiplier i.e,
All the digits of multiplicand are multiplied by the highest power of 10 in the multiplier. Similarly the process continues
to required steps developing on the digits and the steps total will be the result.
Example :- To find the square of (or 543)
Example showing multiplication in three steps where multiplicand and multiplier are respectively three digit numbers. The total
of the above three steps is the result.
As represents 500, so multiplied by will give 250,000, which expressed as ; as represents 40, so multiplied by
will give 20,000, which expressed as ; as represents 3, so multiplied by , will give 1,500, which is expressed as .
Similarly, we get the second and third partial product. (ii) The second partial product is or 21,720 and (iii) the
third partial product is or 1629.
Then add all partial product and get the final result. Thus the square of the number (or 543) is or
294,849.
Greek methods for division depends on multiplication and subtraction. For example, suppose (169,744) is
divided by (412).
Theon first illustrated this process by finding square root of 144. The steps were as follows-
1) To take highest possible denomination in the square root is 10.
2) Subtract 102 from 144, leaves 44.
3) Double the root I.e, 2 x10 = 20, because there are two rectangle.
4) Divide 44 by 20 to get 2 with a remainder 4, i.e, 2 . 20 + 2 2 = 44
5) Then, 4 is the final small square; whose root is 2.
6) Thus, √
We can say that process of reducing by squares on the basis of Geometrical concept.
II. CONCLUSION
It was most amazing that at the initial stage, the Greeks used a very unique approach to tackle numerology and arithmetical
operations using alphabetic numbers. They represent numbers by alphabetic symbols (but not positional). With such kind of
numerology they were able to perform all the Arithmetical operations. Later on, one of the eminent Mathematicians, Apollonius
(late 3rd century BC to early 2nd century BC) developed continued multiplication methodology of big numbers in a simple
manner.
The other amazing methodology to be mentioned was extracting of square root using Geometry by Theon ((70 AD- 135
AD), another great Greek Mathematician). So we can conclude that the evolutionary history of Mathematics is indebted to
various countries, places and great inventors at different point of times.
As in this article we see the alphabetic numbers along with amazing approach of arithmetical operations; continued
simple multiplication methodology of big numbers and uncommon way of extracting square root using Geometry.
REFERENCES
[1] Dow, S. 1952. Greek Numerals. American Journal of Archalogy. Vol.56, No.1, pp.21-23
[2] Heath, T.L. 1921. A History of Greek Mathematics. Oxford At the Clarendon Press
[3] Burstein, S. , Donlan, W. , Pomeroy, S. , Roberts, J. 1999. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History. Oxford University Press
[4] Berggren, J.L. 1984. History of Greek Mathematics: A Survey of Recent Research. Simon Fraser University
[5] Burton, D.M. 2011. The History of Mathematics: An Introduction
[6] Szabo, A. 1968. The Beginning of Greek Mathematics. Dordrecht; Reidel
[7] Fowler, D.H. 1979. Ratio in early Greek Mathematics. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (N.S.)1, No.6. 807-846
[8] https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/basic_concepts/letters-symbols/greek-alphabet-characters-list.php
[9] https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals
[10] http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Greek_numbers.html
[11] http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Greece/Science/en/Counting.html
[12] https://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/history/gr_count/gr_count.html
[13] https://www.jstor.org/stable/44375380?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents
[14] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/93055/how-ancient-greeks-did-math-letters-not-numbers
[15] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-numeral