[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]circa 30,000 B.C.: Paleolithic peoples in Europe etch markings on bones to represent numbers.
circa 5,000 B.C.: The Egyptians use a decimal number system, a precursor to modern number systems which are also based on the number 10. The Ancient Egyptians also made use of a multiplication system that relied on successive doublings and additions in order to find the products of relatively large numbers. For example, 176 x 313 might be calculated by first finding the double of 313 (313 x 2 = 626), then finding the double of that number (313 x 4 = 1252), the double of that number (313 x 8 = 2,504) and so on (313 x 16 = 5,008; 313 x 32 = 10,016; 313 x 64 = 20,032; 313 x 128 = 40,064....). Thus, using these known products produced by doublings, and knowing that 128 + 32 + 16 = 176, then you add the known products of 40,064 + 10,016 + 5,008, to acheive the final answer of 176 x 313 = 55,088.
where were you going with this question
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