Timeline for How far back in time would Maths be understandable to a modern mathematician?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
29 events
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:52 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Aug 13, 2016 at 3:39 | vote | accept | King of Snakes | ||
| Aug 12, 2016 at 9:10 | answer | added | CoffeDeveloper | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 12, 2016 at 9:03 | comment | added | CoffeDeveloper | @DonaldHobson the caveman maths is the only ethic maths, since there's people in the world that is not able to count to up 5 (I mean there's a mind condition for that, they will never be able to count correctly) a 1,2,3, many math will be equal to everyone. | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 12:01 | answer | added | David Mulder | timeline score: 7 | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 1:52 | comment | added | Tryss | One thing to consider is that going very far back in time may not be the best use of his time. If I was your mathematician, I would probably travel to the 18th century, even if I could understand perfectly older maths. Because I think it's where I could have the most impact. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 23:11 | comment | added | Slipp D. Thompson | @Lostinfrance It's magic as in deus ex machina type of writing, not magic as in in-universe sorcery. I believe the OP's simply saying “The language aspect is already well-covered by my story, and not particularly important for this question. Please do not dwell on that; my question is only about the math aspect.” | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 22:50 | comment | added | Lostinfrance | @Superbest, good idea. Sometimes "a wizard did it" is a great short cut to get the story you want to tell, but in this case your natural explanation is much more simple and believable. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 22:38 | comment | added | Superbest | @Lostinfrance He could say that the mathematician is accompanied to the destination by an anthropologist who is very familiar with the language of the time, but happens to be unfamiliar with their mathematics. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 22:27 | answer | added | Superbest | timeline score: 11 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 19:15 | comment | added | Charon | maths are the same universally | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 19:05 | answer | added | Bill Cook | timeline score: 8 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 16:56 | comment | added | PMar | Don't forget that the time-traveler will have to keep A LOT of knowledge to him/her-self. Go back far enough and utter the phrase 'non-Euclidean geometry', and the local scholars WILL look at you like you are nuts. [And incidentally - how many modern people do you know who have been taught geometry from 'The Elements', the way it used to be taught? A time-traveler who thinks 'Cartesian' is in for a bit of a rough ride] | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 15:48 | answer | added | Callus - Reinstate Monica | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 15:44 | answer | added | Placidia | timeline score: 0 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 13:00 | comment | added | King of Snakes | @NexTerren : yea, which is why he does not want to go to a time where he can barely understand anything | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 12:59 | comment | added | Ranger | @KingofSnakes To clarify, the magic helps him with common language, but checks out when it comes to mathematical symbols or mathematical concepts, and forces the mathematician to do the legwork in these cases? If so, I'd edit the question to reflect this. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 12:43 | history | edited | King of Snakes | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 10, 2016 at 12:11 | comment | added | King of Snakes | @Lostinfrance : I understand what your saying, but this is magic. Otherwise he'll never understand whats going on. Lets not nitpick ^_^ (and I added the magic bit to prevent others from prying into his past too deeply, magic will obviously be needed for that) | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 12:04 | comment | added | Lostinfrance | You postulate that "The magic allows him to communicate in the time-periods language easily." Well, if so, then the magic allows a very difficult thing - translation of human language with all its inevitable dependence on context and shared culture - but does not allow a basically rather easy thing: picking up a new terminology to describe what are, by definition, universal truths. Maths is maths. Space aliens could understand it. The only difference between mathematics as known to the ancient Greeks and mathematics now is that back then there was less to learn. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 11:30 | answer | added | Patrick Stevens | timeline score: 45 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 11:29 | history | edited | MichaelK | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 10, 2016 at 11:03 | answer | added | Guran | timeline score: 12 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 10:59 | comment | added | King of Snakes | @DonaldHobson : They could barely speak, let alone do maths lol. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 10:53 | comment | added | Donald Hobson | 1 2 3 many. caveman maths? | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 10:23 | answer | added | King of Snakes | timeline score: 39 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 10:20 | history | edited | King of Snakes | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 10, 2016 at 10:17 | answer | added | Chris J | timeline score: 3 | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 10:14 | history | asked | King of Snakes | CC BY-SA 3.0 |