Why Were the Romans Bad at Math?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2024
- The Romans built one of the greatest empires in history and we carry their legacy to this day ... yet for all their greatness, math was not their strong suit. At all. Ever wonder why?
If you'd like to see more of these videos, consider supporting me on Patreon: / sidequest_channel
Have a fancy historical idea you'd like me to cover? Drop a comment and let me know!
I remember some Eastern European mathmatician being asked why his country had so many great mathmaticians. He said that his was a poor country and couldn't afford impressive scientific equipment, and all you need for math was a pencil and paper.
Sounds like something Pal Erdos said
Sounds like Hungary, they've produced some of the most famous mathematical minds of the past century for being such a small country
All I can say is
Wow 😲 👏🏻
@@gkky-xx4mc Hungary wasn't always a small country in the past though, so it depends on the time.
@@MDP1702 It was, it was just ruling over big area of enslaved people. The area where hungarians were majority was tiny, that's why the whole thing collapsed in 1918.
There's a simple reason why the Romans didn't "get" algebra:
They always thought that X equals ten.
Please never speak to me or my children or my children's children ever again.
/j
@@theonebman7581 it's a good pun. Admit it
@@kafkaesk3449 I hate you, I hate myself, I hate humanity, I hate you all! AAAAAAAAAAAAA
*Imma steal it, either for my maths prof one day, or my kids one day-*
@@theonebman7581
I hope you're doing ok now 🤗🤭
@@dropPlaydead Hey thank you! likewise! :3
I never would have thought the Romans were bad at math considering their precision engineering, but I can understand there is a difference between knowing something just "works" and knowing the intricate mathematical theories behind the "thing" in question, whether it be an aqueduct, coliseum, etc.
Not quite an apples to apples comparison, but I went to teach English in Japan, so the language I har to learn was, erm, English. I couldn't even say why "a apple" or "an tree" were wrong, to begin with!
they didnt know how yeast worked, they just thought that their fermenting pots became magical after while not understanding that it was in fact yeast that were living in the cracks of the pot.
They also knew about soap and its benefits but considered it "unmanly" so they didnt use it.
Truth is most things can be created with very basic math, and the more complex stuff is really just to shorten the process if you have a pretty good grasp on how to do it.
Theres not much that i cant build, fix, design or create. Houses, cars, electronics , my own lil inventions here n there ..etc. and i am horrible in math.
It gets much much easier after you screw up your project a few times as well lol
@@worldcomicsreview354 yup, my inner thinking thought 'an' appears on words that is written starting with a vowel, but then there is 'an hour'
It would never occur to me that a society known for engineering marvels was also "bad" at math. However, I've never understood how they did actual math with Roman numerals. Very cool video!
they didn't. this video is poorly researched. math wasn't done with numerals very often, it was done through the lens of geometry, shapes and such. integer focused math is actually relatively new enlightenment era phenomenon. back then numbers were for counting and geometry was for math. one of those things that we can't really conceptualize today, but they also had trouble with things like negative integers, so our current system has overtaken it for that reason.
“The Light Ages” by Seb Faulk can show you how math was done with Roman numerals well into the 13th century. It just makes your brain hurt when you compare it to the elegance of Arabic numerals.
They did math graphically....using physical 2D and 3D geometric shapes instead of number systems. And they did pretty complex maths this way.
It was done this way until the renaissance period (I think).
They used the Abacus, it can do basic math up to division and multiplication.
Roman numbers are ideal for an abacus. On a Roman abacus, there are two rows for each column. The top row has one bead and is the V, L, D position. The bottom row has four beads and is the I, X, C, M position. in the old style numbers (VIIII = 9) you move up four beads in the I position and one in the V position. In new style numbers (IX = 9,) you move one I down and one X up, reducing the number of "carries" that you have to perform. The reason you don't have IIX=8 is that moving 2 I's doesn't help on the abacus.
You can also use your hands as an abacus. Use your right 4 fingers as I's, use your right thumb as V. Use your left 4 fingers as X's and use your left thumb for L. You can count 0 to 99 on two hands.
Just one thing...memorizing was important at the time and more importantly after the fall of Rome cause if you had find a very interesting book in some hidden private library or later on in monastery the first time you have read it may be also the last. A philosopher or an astronomer had no time to go back to Alexandria or Nicea if he lived in Londinium (London) that is why people in antiquity were taught how to memorize lots of things and more importantly memorizing them fast.
Just make notes.
> tfw no paper.
@@CountingStars333 even a peasant could get ahold of bark and transliterate it really poorly. there are frozen remnants of these bark letters between peasants, and bark copies of paper government edicts, strewn all across the more inhospitable regions of russia from the russian empire.
@@cageybee7221 There's a huge time gap but I guess they could still do that
@@canyou7670 that's just an example, russia's climate preserved these things better than others which is why it's easier to find them there.
@@cageybee7221 Of course
And there’s Byzantines who are “what if Romans and Greeks mingled their customs in medieval Christian context”.
Being one of the few intact Empire with complex government and academia in Europe during the Middle Ages being a major point.
They were in fact too complex that their name became the word for "overly complicated or intricate" things.
The byzantines ARE romans. Rememmbee ,the term "byzantine" was dubbed a century after the eastern roman empire fell
@@abinjjaimon They had changed substantially compared to say Augustan Rome. But it's natural for any nation to change as time goes on. Even if the Empire remained intact to this very day, it would certainly be totally foreign to the Empire in Antiquity in almost every aspect. I find the "they were nothing like the Roman in classical period" argument so weird because of that.
Romei, the name of the Romans of Greek culture, they called themselves that, not Byzantines.
@@abinjjaimon ‘Byzantine’ is derived from ‘Byzantium’, which was the name of the original city occupying that particular spot on the Bosporus.
Constantine the Well Liked bulldozed it and built his New, Better Rome on top of the remains, which became named ‘Constantinople’.
Western Historians always referred to it by the name of the city it replaced, because Western Historians are extremely petty and can hold a grudge like few others.
I thought the title was "Why were the Roman Mad at Bath?"
Sounds like you spade a moonerism
Didn't the Romans have bad hygiene?
@@FrdKal-Kal what? With all those baths?
@@helenamcginty4920 That didn't drain properly, in the public bath houses no less, that's the only gripe.
I dunno why, one of the best-preserved Roman baths is at Bath.
(Though a lot of the finer detail, suspiciously not-eroded by the centuries, is actually Victorian)
This reminds me of an article I read once defending so-called "useless" research. Its main argument was that it's difficult to tell far in advance which scientific explorations will lead to something important (i.e. you don't know what you don't know, so better diversify your research). I'd argue that this was the nature of the Roman failure at mathematics.
Mind linking it
I'd estimate it's been ten years since I read the article I referenced, so I cannot recall the exact source. I tried to Google it up, and while it's easy to find articles on that topic, I wasn't able to narrow it down by including specific phrases I recalled from the one I read. Sorry.
I don’t think that exploring how quails procreate while under the influence of cocaine is that important nor will it lead to a great scientific discovery. Yet, the US government spends roughly $350k a year studying it.
@@w_6880 ...well, how do they?
I'm not bad a math... I diversified my knowledge in different topics
Sounds great, will use that for the future lol
"in civilizations with lower literacy, the most effective way to demonstrate ones power was not through intellectual superiority but through something more material"
lel this is exactly why i started to learn electronics,
i live in mexico and my passion is programing and i started to study on my own and made some programs,macros and games, yet my uncles
always thought i was wasting my time or doing nothing productive (i was adopted by mi grandparents so my uncles feel that his parents are helping me way too much), so i started to study electronics made some projects like obstacle avoid robot a homemade 3d printer, robot arm, currently im working on some glove to control the robot arm and in an automated chess board
with this projects that to be honest were easier to do than some programs or games i had made, they now stoped talking bad of me at my back and now they morally support me to go to the university.
Good job
Build me your pc
Dagnabbit all that sounds cool asf, good luck!
Hola, una duda, en qué ciudad vives?
Damn hope you get far
This channel deserves more views.
It'll catch on, give it a few months. Second Thought, RealLifeLore, Wendover Productions, etc...I remember them having 2-5k subscribers for months and months until they blew up on one video that went viral.
And subs?
Its not the only informative/interesting video with low viewing numbers. Like Science shambles etc.
I thought this had a million views tbh, it was made really well
Rohan is here! Gondor has called for aid!
Correction: Al-Khwarizmi was the father of Algebra. His book “al-jabr” which literally meant “balancing” as in balancing an equation, was introduced to Italy where his name was changed to Al-Goritmi, which is where we get the word “algorithm” from.
I’m a math teacher and I try to stress the accomplishments and contributions of the Arabic world as much as possible in my class as we would be still adding X’s and V’s without it.
@@johnford6501
Well you clearly slept in History classes as these arabic numerals are Hindu. Arabs merely brought them to North Africa where Italians picked them up
So did you apparently, Hinduism is a religion, Hindi is a culture. That still doesn't denegrate the fact that arabs so effectively used it and spread it
@@varoonnone7159 In arabic, the numberals are called hind. Arabs copied many mathematical achievements of Indians. Greek also contributed. Chinese did the same. In mediaeval time, Arabs contributed more to it. The channel is eurocentric. They will remove contribution of all other civilizations to praise thei godfathers. They think logic is invented by Greeks. Lol.😂😂😂
I mean every other civilizations didn't understand logic.
Al Khwarizmi was Persian... not Arab.
Greece has many hills and mountains which provided a lot of defence, so they didn’t need to do a whole lot of military innovation. This, for the most part, kept Greek city states from conquering and destroying one another, as well as preventing outside enemies from conquering them for the most part, allowing them to flourish culturally. Italy is actually pretty flat on either side of the Apennine Mountains. Before it started conquering the known world, Rome faced a lot of existential threats and was constantly at war with its Latin, Etruscan, Umbrian, and Samnite neighbors, as well as the raiding Gauls and Germans, the Carthaginians, and occasionally the Greeks. The best minds were put to use in law, administration/bureaucracy, politics, war, and engineering.
The Greeks had plenty of military innovations. How do you think they conquered the known world? This video is full of misinformation by the way. The Greeks were geometers, not mathematicians. They didn't use zero either.
@@marcv2648 Greeks _were_ mathematicians, and it is wrong to generalize that just because they used geometry to prove many theorems and a lot of them are in the particular field they were geometers, not mathematicians. At some point, Greeks even came close to inventing calculus. Do not try to discredit them with these theories. Greeks paved the way.
what about spartans and macedonians? They were greeks and pretty good at military.
You are correct that geography is so important. Is why America was such a powerhouse. To the north you had very few people due to the weather so it wasn't a threat and to the south it got really tiny so there wasn't enough population to be a threat, and to the east and west for giant oceans. It would be unbelievably hard to attack America.
@@marcv2648 that was macedonian still greece but they are in a different place compare to athens and sparta
Thing is that the Greeks were famous Engineers too with grand works and public buildings.
And they worked in Post Alexandrian Greece where they are internationally connected despite the Diadochi War. Meaning they could exchange ideas and put to good use.
@@freneticness2136 They had amazing siege engines (some examples are Helepolis, fire siege engines not to mention they were the inventors of catapults, ballistas, crossbows and others). They had aqueducts and also underground aqueducts (city plumbing) and were also the inventors of modern type showers and water sinks in their houses. They had bath houses with hot waters and large theaters. All these especially in Asia minor, Egypt and in Greece. The technological advances were so astounding that Arthur Clark in the '70s wrote about the Greeks, that, if their insight was in parallel with their ingenuity, today we would talk about travels in colonized planets and not how to try to get to the moon again.
@@freneticness2136 First, they invented all of these things (in weapons and in urban technology).
Second, southern Greeks were more foot soldiers heavy infantry style, while northern Greeks were more focused on cavalry and that was the combined arms army of Alexander that conquered the world.
Third, they had siege engines with them and the engines were compacted and deployed when ordered (lego style).
Forth, Alexander needed about 7 to 8 months to conquer Tyre while other conquerors nevered conquered it (where did you read that he needed years???).
Fifth, Greeks also were using circumventing walls against cities to besiege them, they even did that before they invented the siege engines (catapults, ballistas etc) because it was the only way to do that before said inventions.
Sixth, all Greek Cities were walled (I am sure that you have heard of the Long Walls of Athens) except Sparta and that was on purpose.
Seventh, the walls of Mycenae were astounding for the Archaic Greeks (850bc - 750bc the time when Homer was alive) and that was the time when Greece went out of their 400 years of Dark Ages. After that they didn't marvel at them anymore.
Eighth, the Romans considered the Greeks to be the most civilised people. For them to be titled Greek was the greatest honor. The Romans were propagating that they were the successors of Alexander's legacy. Their elites were speaking Greek to such extent that they abandond the use of Latin and we have writings of the common people of Rome that were angry at them because they "forgot" their mother language (Latin).
Ninth, in the New Testament, Paul writes that in the eyes of God "it doesn't matter if you are Scythian or Greek", meaning that in the eyes of God it doesn't matter if you are the lowest barbarian or the most civilized person in the world. He wrote that at the height of the Roman period and considered himself a Roman citizen, but he used the word "Greek", not "Roman" to symbolise the peak of the civilized and cultured person.
Tenth, what Arthur Clark said was in one small sentence the compacted achievements of the Greeks and their potential, if they didn't have civil war such a favorite hobby.
@@freneticness2136 Wrong on so many levels. Greek civil war was the major factor that brought the Greek Empires/Kingdoms to collapse. Rome and other powers just provided a little more push. Also, Romans almost always had Greek allies when fighting against others Greeks. Please read about the technological advancements of the Hellenistic period and how these advancements were halted in the Roman period.
@@queldron Macedonians aren't northern Greeks, they're an former tributary, aka an "barbarian" that became more powerful then the Greeks, they adopted Greek stuff, because they were stronger.
Well, as an engineer, I can say math is quite usefull in my profession.
And by "quite usefull" I ofc mean "you must know it to even be concidered for a job"
A Roman legion is often called a "construction company that sometimes does war."
@@Name-cz5jj They only burned them so others couldn’t use them, which is smart in war.
thats also because nowadays an engineering project cannot fail or someone gets fired because it can cost up to billions of dollars sometimes. back in those days you just had slaves do all the work and it would cost you a lot less. and if a slave got wounded or died in the process it would just be considered a suggestion for improvement.
@@just1it1moko I disagree. First, slaves were threated like property, and therefor looked after to a degree. Second, if Roman projects fail, you risked loosing more then a job
@@just1it1moko Yeah, ever heard of decimation?
it sounds so strange to hear someone in a British sounding accent say "math"
Outside the United States (we don't talk about Canada) mathematics is taken as plural, since it's comprised of many branches (algebra, arithmetic, calculus...) and the "s" indicating pluralization is carried over to the abbreviated form.
We don't abbreviate pantaloons to "pant" and so we don't abbreviate mathematics to "math".
Your narrator deserves a medal for flawlessly using the American contraction without sounding like he's just gargled live frogs
lol that was the first weird thing I noticed
An S after math sounds exceedingly bizarre to my ear, but I guess that's because I'm from the land nobody talks about ;-P. Nobody pluralize it here either except for the same snobs who get angry if you say soccer. Those people are also idiots because soccer is the only word they get cranky about that is different on one side of the pond than the other.
That makes me wonder, do non-Americans/Canadians regularly call science sciences or history histories, or is that just reserved for mathematics?
Proper English is confusing. Then along came American English and decided to change things up.
As an Englishman I was very disappointed when the narrator with a VERY British accent said math instead of maths.
roman numerals weren't designed for math, they were designed to be carved into stone.
They're pretty good numbers for carving into stone. Arguably much better for it then arabic numerals. Could you imagine carving an 8 into stone? Shudders.
I have never thought about this, maybe the latin alphabet would be better to carving too 🤔
@@pedrosabino8751 yeah, Arabic is abysmal at anything other than fancy handwriting and specialized typographic tools. I say that as someone born into it.
Carve "1878" on a block, or do it with "MDCCCLXXVIII". The 2nd one takes a lot more time and also has curves like the first one. But the first one is only 4 characters and can be written with just 17 lines.
@@sophiamarchildon3998 Just carve D as a triangle and C as
@@sophiamarchildon3998 the Hindu- Arabic numeral system is indeed better in being shorter. Pure Arabic numbers, as symbols, aren't actually that bad, but the letters are abysmal.
1:41 i died. what a shocking development.
This is so crazy, how does a video LIKE THIS only get 4,175 views in more than 6 months????? It should be a few hundred thousand at least. All of these videos!! I am shook, wtf is wrong with youtube algorithm.
It's time has come. The algorithm God has blessed thee
Question...
How does the Roman system make addition and subtraction harder? It is visually easier to do.
MDCCCVII subtract MCCII is DCV and I didn't even have to think about what those symbols mean
Multiplication isn't difficult. Repeat each group of symbols a number of times and simplify
XVI by VII
XVI XVI XVI XVI XVI XVI XVI
XXXXXXXVVVVVVVIIIIIII
XXXXXXXVVVVVVVVII
XXXXXXXXXXXII
LLXII
CXII
Or double one side as you halve the other
XVI by IIII
XXVVII by II
XXXXVVVVIIII by I
XXXXVVVVIIII is XXXXXXIIII is LXIIII
Even simple division isn't that hard. Just break em down, and halve em
C divide by IIII
LL by IIII
L by II
XXXXX by II
XXXXVV by II
XXV by I
XXV is our answer
I don't even have to understand the numbers I'm working with to do things.
Yeah, not having 0 is a bummer, but most math involving it is fairly simple anyway
0 groups of something is 0
Don't divide something into 0 pieces
Something ± 0 is the same thing
Unless you consider logarithms simple math, I really don't get that first statement
Now, compare that with decimal numbers. Then tell which is easier. Also, you gave examples of pretty small numbers and simple addition, subtraction and multiplication. How would you do squaring or cubing the numbers. Or, how would you write fractions and polynomials and equations?
@@user-pakshibhithi10 his point was that it's good for simple calculations, not complex ones
@@casparvoncampenhausen5249 For simple calculations we can just use tally marks too. It is very clear that Roman numerals are very inefficient.
@@user-pakshibhithi10 saying that it is clear doesn't make it clear. saying that you are right doesn't make you right.
the romans had no practical use for precise numbers, if you disagree then please name the practical uses.
but remember, OP is talking about addition, subtraction, and multiplication, which WOULD be hard to do with tally marks. Tally marks are WAY worse than Roman Numerals.
@@TheGreenTaco999 Tally marks maybe a little less better than Roman numerals. But Roman numerals on themselves have abysmal amount of use.
I love history videos not focused on troop movement and wars.
Good job!
Do one on the history of plagues/pandemics and how people responded and the after effects - would get a lot of views now, I think, especially in this format.
Short answer: Sometimes a lot better than we are. Florence lost somewhere around 70-80% of their population in the first wave of the Black Death but still maintained their basic government and social structure and literally became one of the main centers of the Renaissance.
Now compare that 70% loss to what's happened facing a 0.003% percent loss of the population and you can see how much shame our ancestors are putting us in. They had a higher tolerance for mortality than us. Our prosperity makes us more strangers to crises. In some ways our advanced knowledge works against us as it engenders a sort of hubris and intellectual ego that shatters when nature proves that we're still mortal and fallible.
@@changer_of_ways_999that sucks
I just found your channel and you're answering questions I never knew I needed the answers to
@3:36 the Romans being stuck on that sandy spit of land it's understandable that they'd be more physically fidgety.
Passion to learn via correlating what you already know to a not understood subject at hand is how you gain wit. Romans had no need for theoretical wit except in application for imperial endevors, the wit of which was either relied on by Romans who learned via correlating warring and practical Roman cultural subjects, or by Greeks who learned via pondering the abstract and correlating their ideas with real application. For example: "eureka!" Was only shouted because a man wanted to learn how to measure something, and found out how by seeing a peculiarity with his bathwater. That was the Greek mindset.
Brilliant! But pedant point here: the narrator is English but calls it "math" like an American would, but the images all say "maths" like a Brit would.
The video also says that the Romans left the maths to the greeks since they were better at it. Well, it seems you like to leave narration, like here, to the British. So perhaps it would be an idea to actually let the narrator sound like a Brit. Also he would say IN-Quiry with the emphasis on the Quiry not the In. Little things, but they don't 'are grate.
Marcus Aurelius is a great example the Roman's dealt highly with the theoretical as well, however just in other subjects
Math teachers: “you’re going to need to know this later”
The Roman Empire: “watch me”
As an Italian, this explains a lot.
lol
2:36 is what assured i would subscribe.
Mathematics is a plural, therefore any abbrieviation of the word must also be plural... it's MATHS, not MATH!
When you have an empire you have the best of the best in every field at every corner of the empire working for you and probably even many outside the empire who are opportunists . That's how the US does things even today.
Having an ability to learn from their mistakes and changing and adapting what didn't work. Is what made Romans so successful. However history tells that when an empire falls this ability was lost well before it fall.
@@Name-cz5jj
The Chinese Empire is still around though and kicking
1:04 no, the Greeks had a much better math system, because it is decimal. The Greek system has symbols for 1-9, 10-90, 100-900. It's much better for addition and subtraction, because it works just as modern numbers, you simply have three choices for each number, depending on where that number is. Meanwhile the Roman system has symbols for 1, 5, 10, 50 etc and you have to put them one next to the other or to the back of the other.
Decimal number system was invented in India. Not Greece, they had a better system than the Romans, but, they didn't use the decimal number system.
@@LGatz-t7z That system definitely didn't have zero. How come it would become a decimal number system?
@@user-pakshibhithi10 moving goalposts!!! no one talked that it had or didn't have zero, this is about rather or not it's got decimals!!!
@@TheGreenTaco999 How can a number system become "Decimal number system" without Zero. Did it have a symbol for '10' too. How could they write big numbers without Zero? The numbers should be written over and over to make a bigger number. That is decimal number system. How did they do that in that system?
@@LGatz-t7z It would be nice if you explain how that system works. Because I have no idea of it.
This channel absolutely rocks! Great diverse animations, intriguing storytelling and videos just the right length (but I would have no problem if they are longer if subject requires it) Keep up with original content and subjects :)
"Were the Roman's really just that thicc" yes, Roman's were super thicc.
0:30 LOL😊
Romans (to me at least) seemed to be great adopters and innovator’s of bring together ideas that worked from other cultures to use within their own. That’s why I cannot understand why they didn’t replace their numeric system!
For the same reason Americans won't use the metric system. We think everyone has to learn our "language," including mathematical language.
Because they didn't find it necessary, thus never did
Basically Romans where the Chinese of their time. Ok, China allready existed back then, so they were a copy ;)
At 5:04 didn't mentioned India
Soon brother
I love how our modern education system is almost a carbon copy of the backgrounds learning environment that the Romans had
*"school bad, i smart because i no like school"*
@@50shekels Honestly, I believe Public Schools should be abolished.
@@50shekels 'tis true tho
@@dl2839 Awful rethoric. Should've listened more in public school. F+
@@50shekels it is bad though. Most people don't remember much of the things they learned in public schools, public schools do a terrible job of showing the practical application of things they are taught (assuming those things are important), the like to fill the minds of students with useless and unnecessary things most of the time (i.e. like what's the point of learning the iambic pentameter), sometimes the things that are taught are counter productive and destroys creativity, lastly they suck up too much of the tax revenue. The cons of public schools are lot higher than the pros. Even then most of the pros of public schools could be provided by other, more economical and time-efficient, ways.
This is one of the best and most entertaining and unique videos about Rome I've ever seen- and I've seen an awful lot. Great, great work.
Imagine using maths like a Greek to calculate the circumference of the Earth instead of getting water from point A to point B, building siege engine to crush barbarians under big rocks or counting the amount of salt bags you need after defeating Carthago.
@CAT CHANNEL Not true, if you got two opponents fighting each other with swords or spears, the one with knowledge will win over the one who is only strong.
Strong attacks aren't gonna win you a fight, precise and quick ones will.
You of course don't need maths, but you mentioned "mind" and you certainly need more knowledge than strength.
@CAT CHANNEL in shooting range it by far easier, you add armor, logistic, and equipment then it more or less the same as the roman.
@CAT CHANNEL in wars single soldiers mean almost nothing, all you need is discipline and good tactics
Physical strength is necessary, but people can be trained for that to reach an acceptable minimum
2:28 peek of Humanity
When bring smart made you a star.
I can’t imagine they were that bad at math given the amount of stuff they engineered and built.
There literally had to do math to calculate a number...
DCXLII
642 I think
Took forever.
Would not recommend.
TLDR: Romans were cool, Greeks were nerds? Got it.
How has this channel not blown up?!
Great video. I've always wondered about this.
How simple and yet beautiful art style
I highly doubt that an empire that created some of the most beautiful, long lasting and innovative architectural constructions was “bad at math”. You don’t become a master of Architecture without a mastery of Geometry and a decent understanding of how physics affects objects.
Gothic architecture was literally created because people liked big windows but a wall of glass doesn't carry a lot of weight
The first few times buildings crashed down, but then, through TRIAL and ERROR, they figured that all those arches and columns and more worked
They weren't great engineers, they only knew through practice
Applied physics and geometry is very different from theoretical.
You don't always need to know all of the exact intricacies to understand something. As a very very simplistic example lets use throwing a baseball.
You throw the ball, it curves and suddenly drops due to the way you threw it, you don't need to be well versed in gravity and friction to understand that "if I throw the ball like that it'll do that same thing again", its just an innate understanding, common sense.
Then, later you can put the pieces that you've learned from various other things together to make even greater. You don't need to understand every minute detail to understand that things work in certain ways.
as you mentioned that Greco-Roman education system relied on memorization, it reminded me of the master's degree I was studying in Italy in engineering and how memorization was crucial in grading system. Professors sometimes wanted the exact thing they have told in the lectures without giving any space to improvisation or alternative ways.
You show the Greeks doing calculus and algebra. Calc wasn’t invented/discovered till the 1600”s, Newton and Liebnitz. Algebra was a little earlier, Rene Descarte.
The Greeks were really good at trigonometry and some arithmetic but not higher order mathematics.
Exactly. He kinda messed up on that part.
Newton and liebnitz don't invented calc it was already being used by lots of mathematians
there is high chance greeks might be using calculus without knowing about
peoples were developing lots of mathematical topic independently
for instance. Number system we use today was being used in Indian Subcontinent in 1500 BCE
greek and indian were in contact with each other from so long
there were sculpture of Greek gods in Indian Subcontinent from maurayan empire ( strongest empire at that time )
they were engaged in huge trade at that time
there were lots of cultural exchanges too
Persian empire was in contact with Indian Subcontinent
thats why al khwarizmi used indian number system
concept of negative numbers was used by chanakya to show debt (he was economist too) he was royal advisor of mauryan empire.
world was way to much connected back then.
peoples were share there knowledge with each other.
everyone was influenced by each other
before archimedes peoples were doing trade overseas with ships.
which makes me think that history is shattered.
Euclid is called father of geometry
there was another greek mathematician before euclid he wrote 13 book about geometry only 6 from which survived
2:17
Damn that math in his head
I understand them all LOL
I always knew I was Roman
4:00 Is that man holding a telescope? Isn't that an invention attributed to Galileo?
I find this argument fallacious, for the fact that Rome was not always this huge empire. On the contrary it had long been a small Greek like city state until it’s large territorial expansions began. So, this idea that small territories produces intellectuals seems a false equivalency.
@@Name-cz5jj In a sense he addresses that point, by the fact that the Romans did produce a lot intellectual but how they demonstrated it was through public works and maybe not so much scholastically
Because it is. This video is just garbage.
Your guy’s animation is so simple yet when looked at closely in individual parts is SO detailed, impressive, this is one of those channels I’m not mad there’s not alot of videos, The animation alone should take a while it’s unique, simple, detailed pleasing and therapeutic to the eye and it should be said!👍 Jesus bless!!!!!!!
Love the art style. I wish you would have show with examples how complicated it would have been to do arithmetic using Roman numerals. Regardless the art style earned a sub...or perhaps it was the goats.
This reminds me of a video from the engineering guy which pointed out the difference between Engineering and the hard sciences: the former is focused on solving practical problems even if the science behind is poorly k nown. They could get engineering experience via trial and error and work out rules of thumb for designs long before the science for it has been figured out.
Virtually every single thing we take for granted in the west comes from the Romans direct and indirectly. Without the Romans, there is a chance that Greek knowledge would of been lost if they didn't appreciated it. Protecting and preserving knowledge is more important then just discovering new ideas. People and schools love to praise the Greek democracy of Athens or the Roman republic but pretend as if the Roman empire isn't the reason we still know of these ancient pasts. People these days really downplay the empire's contributions to the present.
GLORY TO ROME!
HAIL THE EMPORER!
@@freneticness2136 Everything.
@@freneticness2136 Everything.
Interesting to think that the Roman's did an early version of 'globalization', really 'empirization', where you let cultures and regions do what they are proficient at and you do what you do best.
Why does an Englishman say 'math' instead of 'maths'?
They did set the first calendar with leap years, which served as the basis of the current one. Their great skill in logistics supply chain gave them a tremendous edge in war, which requires mathematical aptitude. So they had mathematical skills, just not a tendency to research it academically.
Such a pity this channel failed, while similar quality content channels have around 1 million views per video.
All about consistency + humor.
Came across this channel yesterday. It is excellent. Sure it is a pity.
In this case the channel hasn't got a cue about the subject. The roman number system is linked to nifty abacus with negative numbers.
The channels still uploading… wym
How do you know if a channel has failed?
You eclectic collection of facts and figures does ADD up!
Greatest innovation comes when there is catastrophe. There would be a problem from the catastrophe and because there is a need o fix it, ideas form. So cultures that have the most ideas are faced with the most problems and a will to solve them. What do you guys think?
I disagree the collapsed of rome didn't lead to a early enlightenment it led to a dark age.
@@thefutureisnowoldman7653 The colapse of philadelfia led to washington, rome just went to constantinople
Ww2 created lot of technology. Internet was started by usa military.
@@thefutureisnowoldman7653
Dark Age is pretty much a bs term.
The Germani Goths who conquered Rome later swore fealty to the Emperor in Constantinople.
These videos are so good, yet so violent
This idiocy of "Theoretical Greeks vs. Practical Romans", or the other "Greek philosophers, Roman engineers" has to end. In the 6th century BC - I repeat, 6th century BC, in Samos - I repeat again, Samos - a small island in eastern Aegean they pierced a tunnel into the mountain to bring water to the city from the other side. The tunnel had to be turning to reach the source (i.e. it was a curve inside and had to have also several turns inside to avoid tough or bad rocks... and guess what.... they had started the tunnelling from both sides ... and they met 2 kilometers in the middle. Just like in the English channel tunnel. You know how much was the difference? 20cm or so. Let that sink in. I repeat.... in the island of Samos which was not even the 20th largest state in Greece. Let that sink in.
Greeks were far superior engineers than Romans. Romans just had the money and guess what.... they hired Greek engineers. Facts.
Imagine being this mad over a video
@@riograndedosulball248 Imagine imagining people being "mad" because they presented a different viewpoint. Millenial? GenZ?
@@dinos9607 🤦 u did a mistake, entire global majority identify as roman spiritually.
"Greeks were far superior engineers than Romans. Romans just had the money"
so literally the Greeks were superior in the subject's ideas but weren't applying it as much due to a lack of money? and that the Romans were able to preform more of the actual "doing" due to an abundance of money?
theoretical: "concerned with or involving the theory of a subject or area of study rather than its practical application." having good ideas but no money. *greeks*
practical: "of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas." having ideas and applying them. *romans*
"they hired Greek engineers" not saying they didn't, but they did not exclusively, or especially hire Greek engineers to my knowledge. The aqueducts that stand to this day were invented by Appius Claudius Caecus who was Roman. This would be like suggesting that the following facts I will list in just a second suggest that Greeks were bad and engineering because of what they got from the Egyptians when in reality it just shows that great engineers come from all over the place and are not necessarily "from" somewhere specific, this gets interesting when you consider that the Romans also hired Egyptian engineers.
"Greek early scholars were schooled in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians provided the knowledge base the Early Greek scholars needed to advance their knowledge. The Greeks were in fact obsessed with the ancient Egyptians."
"Starting with the first “proto Greeks”, the Myceneans and Minoans, the Egyptians imported much of their culture towards Greece as a part of the great trade of the Bronze Age. After the Bronze Age Collapse, the early Greeks were heavily influenced by the more sophisticated Egyptians in the wake of the Greek Dark Ages."
@@TheGreenTaco999 Some of the most impressive architectural features in ancient Greece were those of the Minoans-Mycenaeans. And they do not at all look like "Egyptian"'for all the talk of "egyptian influences". There are architectural statements in Greece that predate pyramids (yes, including pyramids, in Peloponese, they do exist, in smaller sizes of course, but older than those of Egypt - the pyramid is an age-old design, nothing brand new even at the dawn of the the Bronze Age) .As for the arches you find in the Roman aquaducts these pre-existed and first (= first known to us) found in bridge building in Bronze Age Greece.
The fact that Greeks were running their own affairs in small almost city-level states the biggest of which had less than the 1/1000th of the ressources of Romans had does not mean they were not able to build amazing things. Romans never reached, let alone surpass the Greeks in architecture, not in engineering. I am not stating this to belittle the Romans, it is just a historical fact. I already placed a nice example of the little island of Samos and what they did there piercing the mountain to bring water - an architectural feat far more difficult and far more complex than building an aquaduct, no matter how many kilometers long (it is just the same thing, long enough - once you have the ressources and above all the need to do so you do it). Where on earth would the Greeks need to build big aquaducts to transport water from far away? They always built their cities quite close to water sources and their aquaducts were thus local (and often partially or fully underground as well).
I do not want this to be inflated nor do I belittle the engineering feats of Romans. I just tore down the idiotic notion of "theoretical Greeks vs. practical Romans". It just does not stand even the slightest of scrutiny. that is all.
It still shows in midday & midnight. Logically, noon is 0pm & midnight 0am. But, possibly bar the odd Japanese watch, we still use XII like we did before 0...
I've talked to some mathemeticians about this, and they all agree that doing maths in the Roman system was mostly to do with understanding that the brain can recognize different symbols to mean different things.
Between this and the first two videos on the channel the man went on a training arc
haven't watched yet, i am at 0:14. "why were the romans bad at math" makes me think "are you insane." in antiquity and even with the holy roman empire in the western world only the greeks rival the romans in math. and even while that isn't entirely true (many other cultures had great understanding of math in europe, northern africa and far beyond) the romans kinda collected (i was going to say created, but that isn't true at all) the fundamentals that all western mathematics are built on today. the romans were on par with china when it came to math during their existance.
When they were learning to count they would hold up the first two fingers(separated) and the bar server gave them five beer, class over.
the importance of math to rudimentary engineering is overrated. there are a lot of problems you can more easily solve through trial and error than through calculation.
Subscribed. Only after watching two videos. This is really informative. Keep up the good work
Maths
Which is your favorite mathematic of all the maths?
@@markwhi1 the one with all the letters
@@Jason-gq8fo Well that explains it.
Hm, I always thought Romans would just keep sending armies until they got a Pyrrhic victory because of their stubborn mindset, but it was probably just because they couldn't do math.
"Dude, its a sword. You just swing-swong it, not launch it into space"
There is more to this, even Greek mathematical developments had come to an end by the time the Romans came around. There were socio political aspects to this, but one of the big issues was arithmetic itself, as used by the greeks and the romans. The representational number system using letters work fine up to a point, but that cumbersome arithmetic would have lead to or would impede development of anything resembling calculus. For that you would need positional number system, that makes arithmetic a trivial matter, so you can go past it and build bigger constructs and ideas.
The Romans could solve linear equations and calculate sums of arithmetic progressions. They developed a complex calendar system, known as the Julian calendar, which was used for several centuries. It involved intricate calculations to determine the lengths of months and leap years. Their constructions required skilled use of trigonometry, geometry, the catenary curve and the principles of statics to ensure structural stability, determine angles, and calculate dimensions. For aqueducts Roman engineers had to account for factors such as gravity, water pressure, and elevation differences. They used mathematical principles to calculate the optimal gradient and design aqueduct systems that could transport water over long distances with minimal loss. Roman traders employed arithmetic calculations to determine prices, calculate profits, and manage inventory. Roman accountants used numerical calculations and methods to keep records, track transactions, and balance financial accounts.
The Romans and the Greeks both had a version/versions of the Abacus, and a lot of professionals could do math in their head. Moreover, they had specific ones for engineering and accounting, and Alexandria while it was under Roman rule was a hotbed for Mathematics and philosophy.
Because Roman digit name have several syllables (like quattuor for 5) But other cultures generally use single syllable for all digits.
0:53 goats are capable of algebra
Heck, they specialize in linear algebra for any non sharp and non 90° triangles or any other shape
But yes, goats can do algebra, they cant prove it, though.
4:57 "the Romans were bad at original thinking"
Mfw:🙄
Romans innovated in the fields of:
Architecture.
Tactics, Strategy & logistics
Weaponry
Law
Philosophy
Mining
Agriculture
Politics & administration
Shipbuilding
Urban planning
Etc. Etc.
Honestly this video while presenting some intresting facts really reaches for the conclusion.
He's British. He has a British accent. In Britain it's called maths.
well damn it. you got a subscriber. Because I need to know. WHY GOATS?!??
It's just like in today's era where most people don't know how our mobile or other devices work but simply know how to use them. While the engineers are the ones to thank.
I always wondered that, thanks 👍🏻
3:00: Makes sense as to why following the collapse of Rome into city states they immediately became the philosophical centre of the West.
And a nice way to spread your religion
So basically Rome was the USA of the ancient world.
02:14
Yet, you can't have a good practice without a good theory touchstone.
"I didn't fail class, I was embracing Roman culture!"
0:25 sometime in the future when y’all are bigger and have more time a mini-side quest could be done on all the other bad mathematicians societies.
I love watching the subscriber numbers climb on this channel
there's no need to question the goats, they just are
The Greeks were amazing at geometry, which allowed them to perform almost miracles in math.
You have to use geometry in engineering, so the Romans did use a lot of geometry, as did the builders of the pyramids, Angkor Wat, The Great Wall, and many other ancient wonders.
As an insight into how math became a kind of religion in Greece, read a book called 'The Theology of Mathematics'. It is mind-blowing, and very revealing. Just the introduction stunned me.
@qwert y The bases of the pyramids were levelled and measured precisely, and they were aligned with the stars precisely, so they are a lot more than a pile of rocks.
Their interior designs and construction were remarkable. Read up on it.
@qwert y WTF?! The Egyptians and Assyrians knew how to use math based on geometry, as well as the Greeks.
How do you make sure the base of the Giza pyramid is square and LEVEL? There is a way, and the Egyptians knew it, and used it.
Almost all ancient math was based on geometry.
OK...I have 'The Theology of Mathematics'. The introduction alone blew my puny brain.
It kind of explains how Pythagoras actually made a religion out of math, especially geometry. It is a brain boggling book.
Short answer: They were uninterested in anything without practical application.
My theory would be that a culture that promotes militarism and decades of servitude as a soldier makes it hard for developing the sciences.
Interesting video. Great job.
Thank you for this video my dear sir!
I remember so clearly being perplexed about the practical application of algebra, they told us problem solving, still have never used any of it, geometry trig basic math yes, algebra never.