John wrote:

[snip]

Okay, a question: if the Chinese had printing some five centuries
before the Germans, why wasn't their 15th Century as technologically
advanced as the European 20th? They had the population so they should
have had the spread of wit, intellect, skills and curiosity that
Europe had. We "should" have had Chinese Moon-cities for at least a
couple of centuries.

Their writing system. It was designed to be so difficult that the
masses could not learn it, thereby restricting their opportunities and
forcing them into perpetual servitude.

European alphabet-based languages were easier to learn. The only disadvantages was the Roman numbering system which was clearly a barrier
to numeracy

--
Graham J

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-02-03 19:57, John wrote:

Or why the Americas only ever made wheels for the toys of their
children.

This is explained in a book about wood:

The age of wood, by Roland Ennos

I don't remember all the reasons, but I can name a few:

Lack of tools for shaping wood.
A wheel made of wood alone doesn't last.
A wheel is not useful in mountainous tracks.

--
Cheers, Carlos.
ES??, EU??;

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Daniel70 wrote:

On 5/02/2026 12:01 am, Graham J wrote:

John wrote:

[snip]

European alphabet-based languages were easier to learn.ÿ The only
disadvantages was the Roman numbering system which was clearly a
barrier to numeracy.

I thought Roman Numbering was rather simple. At least for the lessor numbers.

For numbers up to 10, yes. After that it destroys the ability to
understand mathematics.

--
Graham J

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Thu, 2/5/2026 4:19 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 5/02/2026 12:01 am, Graham J wrote:

John wrote:

[snip]

European alphabet-based languages were easier to learn.ÿ The only disadvantages was the Roman numbering system which was clearly a barrier to numeracy

I thought Roman Numbering was rather simple. at least for the lessor numbers.

OK, write a program to convert decimal integers to Roman Numerals :-)

************* From the CoPilot House Of Programming ********************

/* gcc -o roman.exe roman.c */

#include <stdio.h>

void toRoman(int num, char *out) {
struct {
int value;
const char *symbol;
} map[] = {
{1000, "M"}, {900, "CM"}, {500, "D"}, {400, "CD"},
{100, "C"}, {90, "XC"}, {50, "L"}, {40, "XL"},
{10, "X"}, {9, "IX"}, {5, "V"}, {4, "IV"},
{1, "I"}
};

int i = 0;
out[0] = '\0';

while (num > 0) {
if (num >= map[i].value) {
num -= map[i].value;
strcat(out, map[i].symbol);
} else {
i++;
}
}
}

int main() {
int n;
char roman[32];

printf("Enter an integer: ");
scanf("%d", &n);

if (n < 1 || n > 9999) {
printf("Number out of range (1?9999)\n");
return 1;
}

toRoman(n, roman);
printf("The Roman numeral is: %s\n", roman);

return 0;
}
************* From the CoPilot House Of Programming ********************

What is interesting about this particular run, was the glacial rate the
output tokens were generated. I would scroll a line, it would fill it,
I would scroll another line, it would fill it. Must be running on a PC.

Untested :-)

The AI assures me 9999 ==> "MMMMMMMMMCMXCIX"

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)