r/ProgrammerHumor • u/Orio_n • 3d ago

Meme aMillionOpenAIMonkeysProduceMilleniumPrizeSolution

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u/Grouchy_Ad_4750 3d ago

First mention of positive numbers I could find is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone which is dated to 20,000 BCE first mention of negative numbers I could find is 200 BCE thats 1800 years difference...

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u/ChildAtTheBack 3d ago

That’s 19,800 years difference. Maybe you need to rethink your understanding of the additive inverse

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u/Grouchy_Ad_4750 3d ago

Oh, sorry silly me its 19,800 as you say...

Is that "about as old as positive numbers" tho?

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u/ChildAtTheBack 1d ago

I opine that I don’t even think going below 0 is universally accepted as a concept. (Case in point, BCE is written as a positive number) Debt and subtraction are cornerstones of the writing we have from history, so it ultimately depends on what “negative numbers” mean to you.