In the past, experts developed calculating machines that worked with three digits, a ternary system, that they hoped would ...

Random Cistercian numerals illustrate the medieval monastic notation system. All of the symbols are formed by using a single stave — at first, they were horizontal and later, in the 14th and ...

It’s All About the Factors. First and foremost, 12 is a highly composite number — the smallest number with exactly four divisors: 2, 3, 4, and 6 (six if you count 1 and 12).

But, for medium size numbers, the system switches over to binary. The Mangarevans had special words for 10, 20, 40, and 80 — the first few powers of two, multiplied by ten.