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--- numeric [2025/03/17 13:51] – [Base Numbers] ken
+++ numeric [2025/05/16 19:30] (current) – [Number System] ken
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 In the ancient world, many cultures developed or borrowed several different number systems. It is misguided to simply assume that the ancient [[Yeberi]] culture and the associated Ancient [[Hebrew]] language used the same number system that we are familiar with today.
-Yeberi culture was heavily influenced by the superpowers of the day, primarily the long series of Mesopotamian cultures including Sumer, Babylon, and Akkadia. These cultures used a base 60 "sexagesimal" number system. The second major influence was Egypt, which used a simplified version of sexagisimal based on the number 12. However, Egypt **also** used a base 10 system.
+Yeberi culture was heavily influenced by the superpowers of the day, primarily the long series of Mesopotamian cultures including Sumer, Babylon, and Akkadia. These cultures used a base 60 "sexagesimal" number system. The second major influence was Egypt, which used a simplified version of sexagisimal based on the number 12. However, Egypt **also** used a base 10 system, so it is not far fetched to think that the [[yeberi]] may have also, particularly considering that the Israelites immigrated from Egypt.
 With these influences in mind, we'll explore the numbers that appear in the ancient Hebrew texts and try to determine what these numbers meant to the original authors.
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 Several instances occur where [[yeser]] appears in conjunction with what appears to be a day of the month. In these cases [[yeser]] seems to function like the suffix "-teen" does in English.
-Genesis 7:11
+|Genesis 7:11|hedes senim sebey yeser iom hedes|in the month second on the seven and tenth day of the month|
-HEB: הַשֵּׁנִ֔י בְּשִׁבְעָֽה־ עָשָׂ֥ר י֖וֹם לַחֹ֑דֶשׁ
+|Genesis 8:4| hedes sebeyit sebey yeser iom hedes |in the month seventh on the seven and tenth day of the month|
-INT: the second seven teen day of the month
-Genesis 8:4
-HEB: הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י בְּשִׁבְעָה־ עָשָׂ֥ר י֖וֹם לַחֹ֑דֶשׁ
-INT: the seventh seven teen day of the month
-Exodus 12:6
-HEB: עַ֣ד אַרְבָּעָ֥ה עָשָׂ֛ר י֖וֹם לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ
-INT: until four teen day month
+Note that the word "and" in the English translations does not appear in the Hebrew. This raises some doubt as to the veracity of this interpretation. If the Hebrew text was supposed to mean "seven and ten", we would expect it to read 'sebey **[[yed]]** yeser'. The missing 'yed' is suspicious and allows for other possible interpretations. Maybe "and" is not the intent. Could it be "seven times ten"?
+These examples do appear to reference a specific day of the month. A month is based on the cycle of the moon which takes a certain amount of time, one lunar month or around 29.5 days. By this assumption, the days of the month are limited to a certain range, between one and 30. The interpretation of 'sebey yeser' as "seven and ten" does fit into the allowable range. If one were to assume a "seven times ten" interpretation, the value falls well outside the range of days in a month. Or at least it does if one assumes that yeser equals ten. Which we are NOT assuming. Remember, this is the point of this exercise.
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 ^Hebrew Word^Probable Value^Note|
 |[[ahed]]|1 |
-| [[seti]], [[seni]], [[hex]], [[ter]]|2 |this is a bit tricky, we'll come back to it|
+| [[seti]], [[seni]], [[hex]], [[ter]]|2 |FIXME this is a bit tricky, we'll come back to it|
 |[[seles]]|3|
 |[[arebey]]|4|
@@ Line 83: / Line 75: @@
 |[[tesey]]|9| |
 |[[yeser]]|10 or 12|(depending on which base system was used) |
-|[[selesim]]|30|seles & [[im]]|
+| |20| |
-|[[arebeyim]]|40|arebey & [[im]] |
+|[[selesim]]|30 (or maybe 36)|seles & [[im]]|
-|[[hemesim]]|50|hemes & [[im]] |
+|[[arebeyim]]|40 (or maybe 48)|arebey & [[im]] |
-|[[sesim]]|60|ses & [[im]]|
+|[[hemesim]]|50 (or maybe 60)|hemes & [[im]] |
-|[[sebeyim]]|70|sebey & [[im]]|
+|[[sesim]]|60 (or maybe 72)|ses & [[im]]|
-|[[semenim]]|80|semen & [[im]]|
+|[[sebeyim]]|70 (or maybe 84)|sebey & [[im]]|
-|[[teseyim]]|90|teseh & [[im]]|
+|[[semenim]]|80 (or maybe 96)|semen & [[im]]|
-|[[mah]]|100| |
+|[[teseyim]]|90 (or maybe 108)|teseh & [[im]]|
-|[[alep]]|1000 or "a lot" | |
+|[[mah]]|100 (or maybe 144)|probably not 60, since that seems to be covered already |
+|[[alep]]|1000 | |
+|[[alepim]]|ten-thousand|alep & [[im]]|
 Numbers traditionally interpreted as "teens" are formed by adding two numbers.
@@ Line 97: / Line 91: @@
   *sebey yeser is typically interpreted as "17" (see Genesis 37:2)
 It should be noted that this is not the only possible interpretation of these phrases. FIXME We need to examine more examples in context.
-FIXME - analyze and compare the uses of 'mah' vs. 'sesim' to assess whether an interpretation of "sixty" for 'mah' is even remotely feasible. Then, based on those findings, assess 'alep'.
 ====Affixes as Mathematical Functions====
@@ Line 104: / Line 96: @@
 ===Multiplication===
-The use of suffixes indicates mathematical functions. As seen in the above table, the [[im]] suffix on numbers indicates multiplication (although the assumption that it is multiplication **by ten** might not be substantiated. It is probably more accurate to assume that the multiplication is **by yeser**, and to  keep in mind that 'yeser' might equal 10 but more likely equals 12.
+The use of suffixes indicates mathematical functions. As seen in the above table, the [[im]] suffix on numbers indicates multiplication (although the assumption that it is multiplication **by ten** might not be substantiated. It is more accurate (but less precise) to assume that the multiplication is **by yeser**, and to  keep in mind that 'yeser' might equal 10 or 12.)
 ===Sevenfold===
@@ Line 144: / Line 136: @@
 ====Number System====
-By now you may have noticed a pattern:
+We can now consolidate the above information into a system:
 ^Root^Root Value^With 'im'^With 'it'|
@@ Line 155: / Line 147: @@
 |[[tesey]]|9| [[teseyim]] = 90 |[[teseyit]] (or teseyi) = 1/9 |
 |[[yeser]]|10 |[[yeserim]] = 100 |[[yeserit]] = 1/10 |
+|[[mah]]|100| not used | mahit = 1/100 (theoretical) |
+|[[alep]]|1,000 |[[alepim]] = 10,000| alepit = 1/1000 (theoretical) |
+====Checking the System=====
+If this system is correct, we should theoretically be able to use the data in Numbers chapter 2 and add up the numbers in each verse to get the grand total in verse 32.
-|[[hexi]] |half | |
+The NIV lists the total number of the census as 603,550.
-|[[mah]]|100| |
-|[[alep]]|1000 or "a lot" | |
+We disagree. Based on our rendering, the number given in Numbers 2:32 is:
+//ses mah alep seles alepim hemes mah hemesim// which transliterates to "six hundred thousand, three [x] ten-thousand, five hundred fifty". Clearly there is a three with a ten-thousand in our rendering. This results in a total of 630,550.
+FIXME - cool now do all the other verse and add them!
+====More Math====
+The ancient [[yeberi]] culture had a fairly accurate understanding of the geometry of circles. 2 Chronicles 4:2 estimates pi to within an error margin of 3% by indicating that the circumference of a circle is 3x the diameter.