Cistercian numeral system - photo

[Altair]

Cistercian numeral system developed by Cistercian monks in the 13th century as a compact way to write numbers.




Previously:

Japanese multiplication technique - GIF

[Philip Davies]

Difficult to read upside down!

[Frank S]

Difficult to read upside down!

Before the number 0 was thought of as being an actual number all numeric writings were difficult to read. Try subtracting ten from ten using any numeric form which zero by itself does not exist.

[mklotz]

I think the most interesting question is, "Why do a gaggle of monks need a more compact number representation?".

Parchment isn't so expensive that saving a tiny fraction of its area is important. Besides, scripture doesn't include a lot of computations or equations.

Two thoughts here...

It's really a code to conceal some illicit operation in which the monks are involved.

It's based on their warped idea of righteousness. Arabic numerals originated in a non-christian area and so are sinful. These are proper religious digits.

[joeljensen]

I do agree that math would be difficult.

But that is kinda cool. I assume for numbers 10000 and above you add another character.

We may have comments about the system, but remember that this was created in the 13th century and it was a compact way of accounting for items. Not math.

[Philip Davies]

These characters are,reminiscent of framers’ marks, identifying the location and function of timbers in a a building. So it wouldn’t do to mix them up by getting them the wrong way up!