Are mathematics common place in the Elder Scrolls world?
Secondly, if we had reasons to assume they are, how would I express them? Wing it and use symbols present on earth? Or write it out using very limited vocabulary like they did a long time ago?

Well, all sources we have (with a few exceptions) are translated into English for our convenience, so any numbers present would be turned into our traditional 1,2,3 system. Thus, we'll probably have to turn to speculation on this one.

My first inclination would be to say roman numerals, given the expanse and importance of the Empire in trade and taxes they would need a universal system of communication and measurement in order to run an effective empire. But I'm no historian, so I can't say for certain exactly how medieval or ancient civilizations dealt with such a problem.

I'm sure that basic mathematics, simple addition and whatnot, would be known by most people, but upper level mathematics would be restricted to nobility and scholars (mages and monks). With the spread of the mages guild and Imperial cult I would assume they would be teaching people math along with writing and other essential skills as a part of their missionary work, though the mages guild has become much more political and restricted as of late. I suppose restricted isn't the best word, but they aren't teaching magic and whatnot as freely as they were originally intended to.

If you need to know this for modding or writing purposes, stuff that will be read by other people, I'd say use english numerals for the same reason Tes uses them. You could go into roman numerals, but you'd probably confuse more people than you would have say it is cool and immersive.

Hope that helps :goodjob:

↑Darkom95 said it much better than me☻↑



Mathematics is supposedly a universal system so you shouldn't have to worry. For the record I've never discovered any mathematical problems while playing.

And they count cows in Skyrin regularly to keep giants away.

numerology, which involves mathematics, seems to be ingrained quite deeply in religion. math also has to be present in the everyday administration of governments and the economy. so yea, its commonplace.

i can see the empire using a base 8 system. more realistically, just stick to the regular english numbers and symbols, as it will make it accessible to all.

I suspect the apogee of mathematical development was achieved by the Dwemer, and mostly lost with their dissappearance. It would be interesting to read some of the musing of Dwemeri theoretical mathematicians.

If you're interested, http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/topics/num-sys.html would make a good start.

The Redguards have the most complicated numerology, expressed in their sword dances, while the Marukhati were taught three dimensional hyroglyphics by St. Alessia, so their number system is also very complicated. Both Marukhati and Redguard numerics relate to the stars. Veloth gave the Chimer a system based on threes, and the Nords probably have a highly variable system. It was Remen who used Tsaesci numerics throughout his regime, while Versidue-Shaie standardized its use. Today, that system is still in use. We'll never know how influencial the Tsaesci were in shaping Imperial history. I dare say they've cultivated much of the human psyche in their own likeness.

@Dumbkid: like http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/type_of_zero.shtml? It appears even their children mused at the aurbis.

Since you're already translating Tamriel's languages into Terrestrial ones for the benefit of the player, then the mathematical side just follows along. Dates in everything you read use regular Hindu-style positional notation for years, rather than the Roman numeral style, so stick with that.

That said, there are writings in the game that are visibly in other scripts and languages, so don't feel restricted from other notations where it makes sense, e.g. in conjunction with "foreign tongues".

Common place? I can't comment on that but higher mathematics would probably only be used by the people who need them. For example Geometry would would be used by someone in Architecture. But a farmer wouldn't need all that so I guess it just depends on what the profession is.

Universal to our universe, there's no telling what properties of mathematics differ in mundus.

There is an established and universal time standard that is almost identical to our modern standard. You know, 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, 24 hours to a day, 7 days to a week, 4 (give or take) weeks to a month, 12 months to a year.

While seemingly unrelated, it speaks to a similarly-minded obsession with numbers. The Phoenicians were obsessed with circles and the number 60, which is where we get the number 60 in time, so chances are likely that at least someone somewhere in ES was also obsessed with the same things.

I would expect arithmetic to be commonplace, and anyone with pretensions to erudition or nobility would have gone through a quadrivium-like education that included fundamentals of algebra and geometry. There might be specialized scholars that are on to monovariate calculus. (Imagine how far the knowledge might have penetrated society a decade or two after Newton published the Principia.) Dwemer on the other hand could probably be expected to have fully developed 21st century mathematics, and then some.