0.1: Alphabitia
The Alphabitia Story
A long time ago, the Alphabitians lived on the edge of a great change. They were no longer just hunters and gatherers—they were beginning to farm! With their old number system, based on letters (A, B, C … Z, many), they could count all the animals they caught. But now, with flocks of sheep and fields of corn, their old system just wasn’t enough.
One clever huntress had invented a new way to count. She was excited to share it with the tribal council that very evening. But fate had other plans—on the day of the hunt, she passed away, taking her invention with her. Fortunately, she left behind some mysterious artifacts and whispered to her best friend that all it took to count any number of things were the symbols A, B, C, D… and a brand-new one called 0. The artifacts she left were named unit, long, and flat.
Now the tribal council faces a big challenge—and they’ve turned to you. Can you figure out the huntress’s system and help the Alphabitians count like never before?
Your System from the Huntress’ Artifacts
Your tribe used to count
from □ (the old A) all the way to □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ (the old Z) using the alphabet. But now, a clever huntress has left behind some magical block artifacts.
Before her untimely death, she shared a secret with the Tribal Council: by using just the letters A, B, C, and D, along with a brand-new symbol called zero (0), and combining them with her block artifacts, the tribe could count as high as they wanted—far beyond the limits of the old alphabet system!
Please think about and complete the following…
How would you use the the new block artifacts above (a unit, long, and flat) and the symbols A, B, C, D, and 0 to count from □ to □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□? In particular, assign each of these amounts a numeral made from combinations of the letters A, B, C, D and zero, 0.
Attributions
Alphabitia concept adapted from Sonoma State University Math 300A Workbook and Marcella Laddon (at Cabrillo College)
Media Attributions
- Alphabitia Blocks
