The Tribe of Ten

The Tribe of 10 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0) written by Zim Olson

Once upon a ____x, there was a Tribe called Ten. Maybe not the largest tribe, but each individual important in his/her own right. The most important was of course the chief. I am not sure which one it was though.

The tribe Ten went through time or what ever a sequence of ten goes through, in complete harmony. As far as the location of their existential domain, they were a little bit of every where. Then something occurred.

In the midst of them was another, another member. I am not sure how the tribe came to realize this. Things just didn’t seem the same. So just to have a name for this happening, they called it X.

The tribe didn’t know what to make of X. Or if they should maybe change their name. Maybe to Ten Plus or something. They couldn’t figure it out if X was important and should be made Chief or should exist somewhere else besides where the Tribe Ten was, where ever that was.

Well as I say time just went on with the Tribe. But then something else didn’t seem correct. 11 appeared out of know where. The Tribe (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.…X) said uni ominously, this is unheard of (if numbers ever hear anything?). Our way of ______ is threatened. What can we do?

One said "I think we have discovered Error". 0 said " This is awful, what shall we do". 9 said " We can banish this '11' or incorporate it into our Tribe. Maybe we should vote on it since no one knows who the Chief is". 0 said "All in favor of incorporating Error into our Tribe, uh, 'count off ' " . Thus counting was born into the Tribe of Ten.

And, Error was incorporated into the Tribe also. The reasoning of the individual digits was that, well they didn't reason, they just counted. I guess it just came naturally to the Tribe of Ten.

Now what to do, in a Tribe of 10 with something called 11 in the group was a little disconcerting. If a digit was ever disconcerted that is. I guess that is how the term Error was coined.

So again the Tribe counted: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ......x, .....11. Thus a new name and/or Tribe was born: The Tribe of 11.

Life/Existence was bustling in the Tribe . They just counted and counted.....and counted. Error was not important to them at the time. They just counted. Then X decided he wanted to count to. And Error (11) said "I exist also. I want to count. After all we are the Tribe of 11. Some how." Thus reason was also born, among the Tribe of 11 any way.

After Counting some time the Tribe decided they had been counting a lot. And since they now had reason, Time was born and became part of the Tribe.

Zero said "I miss the good old days, when we were in perfect Harmony". One said "what are you 'talking' about, 0 does not even exist". X said " I don't know what you are 'talking' about". 9 said "I am the greatest, I should be chief over all other digits." 11 said " NO you aren't!".

What a mess, Thus Mathematics was born.

Mathematics tried to make sense out of the Tribe of 11. So now we have a Tribe of Mathematicians. The Tribe of 11 has become the Number System. X a reason for the Mathematician. Time a combination of X and counting. And Life/Existence Continues. And as for Error: This continues to baffle the Tribe of Mathematicians.

Author - Zim Olson Top of Page