Premise

I used to be an issue from the Panini Linguistics Olympiad referred to as “Cistercian Numerals“. It is, because the title suggests, about Cistercian numerals, a code utilized by monks in exile. The medieval cipher was created across the time that Arabic numerals have been launched to Europe.

The Question

I’m making an attempt to resolve Assignment 1:

… Luckily, you will have found out the cipher, apart from the numbers. Below are some numbers that seem within the message written utilizing Cistercian numerals notation¹. (The numbers are written particularly order.)

You are assured that their counterparts are the next numbers (written in ascending order):

7, 13, 61, 114, 234, 250, 341, 705, 4091, 5689, 6070, 7608

Assignment 1: Your job is to match the Cistercian numerals with their counterparts.

¹_{The medieval Cistercian numerals, or “ciphers” in nineteenth-century parlance, have been developed by the Cistercian monastic order within the early thirteenth century at in regards to the time that Arabic numerals have been launched to northwestern Europe.}

My Progress

I first tried to imagine that 7 matched to g) (which I later came upon it did), since 7 was the bottom quantity and g) appeared the best (and likewise regarded like a 7; the issue mentioned Arabic numerals have been launched round this time). I then matched 13) to j) (incorrect) since j) regarded like g) and 13 was the second smallest. However, these two assumptions didn’t assist me resolve the issue.

I then assumed that apart from the center line, every line phase represented a digit, together with straight and slanted traces. This would make it base-24. I then tried to make use of Benford’s legislation and the frequencies to match traces to completely different digits, however didn’t succeed.

The Solution

The resolution is supplied. Also, here’s a key to the digits and sample

To summarize, solely the highest line segments are for the digits. To multiply by powers of 10, you do completely different rotations and flips. To get a quantity that’s the sum of two identified symbols, you merge the symbols collectively so as to add them.

My Questions

I’ve two Questions about this:

1. How would you guess that multiplying by powers of 10 can be equal to completely different rotations and flips of the Cistercian symbols?

2. Even in the event you knew the above, how would you match the road segments to completely different digits?