>
> That's why I sent you the link. It explains their
> mathematics quite clearly.
>
> Please use their counting system to calculate the
> circumference of a circle with a radius of ... oh,
> let's say "2" units.
>
> Go. Find "Pi" in Yanomamo numbers. I challenge
> you. You are the one who said it was universal,
> now PROVE IT by DOING IT with the number system of
> a culture that isn't probably too much different
> than Old Kingdom Egyptians (in some ways).
>
>
> Answers on a postcard...
>
> Anthony



"1" unit would be much easier.

The Yanomamo use a counting system of one, two, more than two.

But these are still intelligent people even if they are highly
primitive. While retrieving monkeys from the hunt might be suf-
ficiently expressed by the simple concepts of one, two, more than
two there are more complicated concepts with which they'll some-
times deal. Counting 1, 2, 2+ is much more a linguistic exercise
than a mathematical one. If preparing yams for storage required
numbers then they would have developed and used math. Instead it
became a matter of producing what was possible or filling a basket
for dinner. A woman might instruct a child to nearly fill the bas-
ket or perhaps heap it full.

Pi can also be a function of time: If it takes two days to walk
straight to the neighboring village it might be noted that a little
more than a day and a half are required to take the more circular
route with three days and part of the morning for the round trip.

Pi has a funny way of avoiding showing up in nature but it does
tend to be a concept associated with language and the activities
man. This isn't to say I believe any Yamomamo ever discovered pi,
merely that, like counting, it wasn't important enough that it was
remembered.





____________
Man fears the pyramid, time fears man.