- WELCOME TO A LESSON ON QUIPUS.
TO KEEP GOOD RECORDS,
THE INCAS USED QUIPUS TO RECORD QUANTITIES OF ITEMS.
THE QUIPU IS A COLLECTION OF CORDS WITH KNOTS IN THEM,
AS WE SEE PICTURED HERE ON THE LEFT.
THESE CORDS AND KNOTS ARE CAREFULLY ARRANGED
SO THAT THE POSITION AND TYPE OF CORD OR KNOT
GIVE SPECIFIC INFORMATION ON HOW TO DECIPHER THE CORD.
H CORDS ARE ATTACHED TO THE MAIN CORD.
-- ON THE RIGHT HERE, THIS IS A MAIN CORD AND SO IS THIS.
AND THE CORDS ATTACHED TO THE MAIN CORD,
THESE CORDS HERE, WOULD BE CALLED H CORDS.
AND THERE APPEARS TO BE ONE H CORD HERE.
B CORDS, IN TURN, WERE ATTACHED TO THE H CORDS.
SO LOOKING AT THIS DIAGRAM HERE WE SEE H CORDS.
AGAIN, THESE ARE THE CORDS THAT ARE ATTACHED TO THE H CORD.
MOST OF THESE CORDS WOULD HAVE KNOTS IN THEM,
RARELY ARE KNOTS FOUND IN THE MAIN CORD.
KNOTS TEND TO BE MAINLY ON THE H AND B CORDS.
A QUIPU MIGHT ALSO HAVE A TOTALIZER CORD
THAT SUMMARIZES ALL THE INFORMATION ON THE CORD GROUP
IN ONE PLACE.
NOTICE OUT HERE WE SEE ONE TOTALIZER CORD.
THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF KNOTS,
EACH REPRESENTING A DIFFERENT VALUE
DEPENDING ON THE KIND OF KNOT USED
AND ITS POSITION ON THE CORD.
THE INCAS, LIKE US, HAD A DECIMAL OR BASE-10 SYSTEM,
SO EACH KIND OF KNOT HAD A SPECIFIC DECIMAL VALUE.
SO HERE WE HAVE A LONG KNOT, A SINGLE KNOT,
AND A FIGURE-EIGHT KNOT.
THE SINGLE KNOT, PICTURED HERE IN THE MIDDLE,
WAS USED TO DENOTE TENS, HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS,
AND TEN-THOUSANDS.
THEY WOULD BE ON THE UPPER LEVEL OF THE H CORDS.
THE FIGURE-EIGHT KNOT ON THE END, THIS KNOT HERE,
WAS USED TO DENOTE THE INTEGER ONE.
EVERY OTHER INTEGER FROM TWO TO NINE
WAS REPRESENTED WITH A LONG KNOT, SEEN HERE ON THE LEFT.
SOMETIMES LONG KNOTS WERE USED TO REPRESENT TENS AND HUNDREDS.
NOTE THAT THE LONG KNOT HAS SEVERAL TURNS IN IT,
THE NUMBER OF TURNS INDICATES
WHICH INTEGER IS BEING REPRESENTED.
THE ONES UNITS WERE PLACED
CLOSEST TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CORD,
THEN TENS RIGHT ABOVE THEN, THEN THE HUNDREDS AND SO ON.
IN ORDER TO MAKE READING THESE PICTURES EASIER
WE WILL ADOPT A CONVENTION THAT IS CONSISTENT.
FOR THE LONG KNOT WITH TURNS IN IT,
REPRESENTING THE NUMBERS TWO THROUGH NINE,
WE WILL USE THE NOTATION SEEN HERE.
THE FOUR HORIZONTAL BARS REPRESENT FOUR TURNS,
AND THE CURVED ARCH ON THE RIGHT LINKS THE FOUR TURNS TOGETHER.
THIS WOULD REPRESENT THE NUMBER FOUR.
WE WILL REPRESENT THE SINGLE KNOT WITH A LARGE DOT,
AS WE SEE HERE,
AND WE'LL REPRESENT THE FIGURE-EIGHT KNOT
WITH A SIDEWAYS EIGHT, AS WE SEE HERE.
REMEMBER, THE FIGURE-EIGHT KNOT REPRESENTS ONE.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES.
WHAT NUMBERS ARE REPRESENTED ON EACH OF THE THREE CORDS
HANGING FROM THE MAIN CORD?
SO STARTING AT THE BOTTOM, THIS IS THE ONES PLACE VALUE,
THIS IS THE TENS, THIS IS THE HUNDREDS,
AND THIS IS THE THOUSANDS.
SO WE HAVE A LONG KNOT IN THE ONES PLACE VALUE.
THESE THREE HORIZONTAL BARS REPRESENT A LONG KNOT
WITH THREE TURNS,
SO WE HAVE A THREE IN THE ONES PLACE VALUE.
WE HAVE TWO KNOTS IN THE TENS PLACE VALUE, SO THAT'S 20,
+ WE HAVE THREE KNOTS IN THE HUNDREDS PLACE VALUE,
THAT'S 300,
+ WE HAVE ONE KNOT IN THE THOUSANDS PLACE VALUE,
SO WE HAVE 1,000.
SO THE TOTAL FOR CORD "A" WOULD BE 1,323.
NOW LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT CORD B.
AGAIN, STARTING AT THE ONES PLACE VALUE
THERE ARE ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE HORIZONTAL BARS HERE.
SO WE HAVE A LONG KNOT WITH FIVE TURNS.
SO WE HAVE A 5 IN THE ONES PLACE VALUE
+ WE HAVE ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR KNOTS IN THE TENS PLACE VALUE,
THAT'S 40,
+ WE HAVE ZERO KNOTS IN THE HUNDREDS PLACE VALUE,
BUT WE HAVE TWO IN THE THOUSANDS PLACE VALUE, SO WE HAVE + 2,000.
SO THE TOTAL FOR CORD B WOULD BE 2, 045.
AND NOW WE'LL LOOK AT CORD C.
WE HAVE AN EIGHT KNOT HERE,
IT REPRESENTS ONE IN THE ONES PLACE VALUE, SO WE HAVE 1
+ WE HAVE ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX KNOTS
IN THE TENS PLACE VALUE, SO WE HAVE SIX TENS OR 60,
+ TWO KNOTS IN THE HUNDREDS PLACE VALUE, SO WE HAVE 200,
AND WE HAVE ZERO IN THE THOUSANDS PLACE VALUE.
SO CORD C REPRESENTS 261.
I HOPE YOU FOUND THIS HELPFUL.