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(1 of 11)
Apr 4, 2008 6:01 PM
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Aztec Math Used Hearts and Arrows
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3
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3/27/08
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(2 of 11)
Apr 4, 2008 6:01 PM
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I think they used to measure the things with the available "devices", such as arrow, heart, hand, bone and arm, that, maybe, it was common for them.
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Kent, WA, USA
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3/5/08
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(3 of 11)
Apr 5, 2008 1:57 PM
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Sounds like we're too dumb to understand Aztec math.
--
John A. Bailo
Participant, Texeme.Construct
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4/5/08
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Apr 5, 2008 9:02 PM
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Interesting article! I think, however, that there is a typo in the subtitle. It currently reads "How big is a heart? Two and a half land rods of course, according to the Aztecs" but in the article itself it says "five hearts is two units". This implies that a heart is two-fifths of a land-rod, not five-halves.
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4/7/08
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Apr 7, 2008 2:31 PM
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I'm currently teaching a course on Mesoamerican Writing Systems at UNC-Chapel Hill, and I'll mention this article to my students. I do object to the "medieval" characterization of Aztec society. The term is normally used in English a pejorative way, connoting a backward social organization and cultural development. This is hardly acceptable when writing about any society--especially one that the article's author does not have any links to--and certainly not applicable to the Aztecs.
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256
From:
New York, NY
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10/5/07
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(6 of 11)
Apr 7, 2008 4:37 PM
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Thanks for the math correction. How embarrassing. Somehow two-fifths became 2.5. I'll blame the decimal system and fractions for striking back at their competitor : )
As for medieval, I in no way meant that as a pejorative term, merely as descriptive of the time period involved. There is no doubt that the Aztecs had a sophisticated and advanced civilization.
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4/9/08
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Apr 9, 2008 12:05 AM
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The Tialquahuitl at 2.5 m makes the 'arm' equal 0.833 m. This is uncomfortably close to the Iberian vara at 0.840 m. which is also known in Texas, California, Mexico and Peru where it is thought to have been taken by the Spanish. Do the authors have any positive indication of the use of these units by the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest? If not there would seem to be a distinct possibility that knowledge of fractions and the calculation of areas may well have been transfered along with the vara.
David C. Hewitt
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4/9/08
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(8 of 11)
Apr 9, 2008 12:08 AM
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The Tialquahuitl at 2.5 m makes the 'arm' equal 0.833 m. This is uncomfortably close to the Iberian vara at 0.840 m. which is also known in Texas, California, Mexico and Peru where it is thought to have been taken by the Spanish. Do the authors have any positive indication of the use of these units by the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest? If not there would seem to be a distinct possibility that knowledge of fractions and the calculation of areas may well have been transfered along with the vara.
David C. Hewitt
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4/9/08
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(9 of 11)
Apr 9, 2008 12:09 AM
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The Tialquahuitl at 2.5 m makes the 'arm' equal 0.833 m. This is uncomfortably close to the Iberian vara at 0.840 m. which is also known in Texas, California, Mexico and Peru where it is thought to have been taken by the Spanish. Do the authors have any positive indication of the use of these units by the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest? If not there would seem to be a distinct possibility that knowledge of fractions and the calculation of areas may well have been transfered along with the vara.
David C. Hewitt
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5
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12/26/07
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(10 of 11)
Apr 9, 2008 3:56 AM
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Thanks for this article
Studied Latin American cultures(one of my "A" subjects)
Always like to stay up-to-date
iceman
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4/15/08
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(11 of 11)
Apr 15, 2008 10:06 PM
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Confusion results in western terms between "rod" and "rood" and apparently at one time "rod" was a unit of brick wall with a method to "estimate the value of a rod of brickwork..." (p. 742) and the measures of "roods" of "superficies...as under" 144 sq. inches are equal to 1 square foot...9 square feet ...1 square yard...2 7/9 square yards...1 square pace...10-89 square paces ...1 square pole...40 square poles...1 square rood...4 square roods...1 square acre". Followed by very large surfaces, as of countries are expressed in square miles, which is shown in conversion multiples of units of "Square feet";"Square yards";"Square poles";"Square Roods";"Square Acres". This leads to the comment above that "Perhaps the only standard that can be safely referred to at the present day is that belonging to the Royal Astronomical Society."!
p. 1224 - From "The Encyclopedia of Architecture - Historical, Theoretical, and Practical -The Classic 1867 Edition. Joseph Gwilt c) 1982 Crown Publishers, Inc.
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