Does anyone know anything about the "Fundamentalis Tabula Arithmetica" or what could be special about the numbers 106 and 117 that would make medieval Europeans in the 1600s want to know their multiples? Googling reveals nothing about a "Fundamentalis Tabula Arithmetica". Is the word "Fundamentalis" really Latin?
From: Alex Bellos
Date: Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 11:01 AM
Subject: [math-fun] tables
To: math-fun
Hi - I've just received an email from a reader who saw in a Cologne museum a document called Fundamentalis Tabula Arithmetica from 1638. It is a table of multiples for all the numbers up to 100 and also the tables for these five numbers:
106, 117, 256, 318 and 365
It's pretty obvious why 256 and 365 are included.
Might anyone have any thoughts as to why 106, 117 and 318 (3x106) are also included?
Alex
