As long as there has been man…

There has been math.

If you are no fan of math, sucks right?

Well, it would…

Unless that is you take in the Archaeologist perspective, which gives you a unique view into math’s history?

Then?

Ah, yes…

Even math can be awesome.

[via Physorg.com]Ancient jugs hold the secret to practical mathematics in Biblical times

Archaeologists in the eastern Mediterranean region have been unearthing spherical jugs, used by the ancients for storing and trading oil, wine, and other valuable commodities. Because we’re used to the metric system, which defines units of volume based on the cube, modern archaeologists believed that the merchants of antiquity could only approximately assess the capacity of these round jugs, says Prof. Itzhak Benenson of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geography.

Now an interdisciplinary collaboration between Prof. Benenson and Prof. Israel Finkelstein of TAU’s Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures has revealed that, far from relying on approximations, merchants would have had precise measurements of their wares — and therefore known exactly what to charge their clients.

The researchers discovered that the ancients devised convenient mathematical systems in order to determine the volume of each jug. They theorize that the original owners and users of the jugs measured their contents through a system that linked units of length to units of volume, possibly by using a string to measure the circumference of the spherical container to determine the precise quantity of liquid within.

The system, which the researchers believe was developed by the ancient Egyptians and used in the Eastern Mediterranean from about 1,500 to 700 BCE, was recently reported in the journal PLoS ONE. Its discovery was part of the Reconstruction of Ancient Israel project supported by the European Union. [Read More]

Still not convinced…

That math can be anything BUT a pain in your backside.

“There is no way math can be cool.” At least that is what you say now.

OK…

Read THIS (below) then tell me that again.

[via io9] This well-known Egyptian symbol is actually an early math problem

Chances are you’ve seen this symbol before, because it’s one of the most well-known Egyptian symbols. It’s called the Eye of Horus. It’s been in the background of plenty of mummy movies, and been turned into a lot of necklace charms.

Some people think it’s writing. Actually, it’s math.

The Eye of Horus is, from a design standpoint, both beautiful and iconic. And whoever created it might have been thinking of exactly that while dreaming it up. But it’s not just a stylish symbol. It has a deeper meaning: The Egyptians used it to express fractions of volume. Each stroke counts for a subdivided piece of the whole.

The inner corner of the eye indicates one half, the iris is one fourth, the eyebrow is one eighth, the outer corner of the eye is one sixteenth, and the decorations below the eye are one thirty-second and one sixty-fourth respectively. They were combined, in various ways, to measure the unit capacity for grains. [Read More]

Yes…

Math?

Surprisingly far more cool than you ever gave it credit for.

Shame. On. You!