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Since the dawn of civilisation, humans have used everyday materials to create mathematical models of the world around them. This album explores the ancient Greeks' astrolabe as a model of the skies; the sundial, to tell the time; Babylonian clay tablets to record wages and trading of sheep; wooden tallies for bulk-buying beer, the Incas' use of knots and string, and the sophisticated number-engine invented by Charles Babbage. This material forms part of The Open University course MST121 Usin ...
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A short introduction to this album.The Open University
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An ancient mathematical tool to measure the daily and annual cycles of the earth around the sun.The Open University
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How the Greeks invented a two dimensional astrolabe as a conceptual model of the cosmos, and how it was used.The Open University
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Clay tokens, an ancient system used to record goods changing hands.The Open University
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How South American Incas kept records by the use of knots.The Open University
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How wholesale beer sales were recorded using notches on wooden tallies.The Open University
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John Napier's method of multiplication and logarithms, and how Charles Babbage corrected his calculations.The Open University
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Charles Babbage's ingenious mechanical device to compute mathematical equations.The Open University
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