Rarely are knots found on the main cord, however, and tend to be mainly on the H and B cords.

Most of these cords would have knots on them. B cords, in turn, were attached to the H cords. These cords and knots are carefully arranged so that the position and type of cord or knot gives specific information on how to decipher the cord.Ī quipu is made up of a main cord which has other cords (branches) tied to it. The quipu is a collection of cords with knots in them. This kind of board was good for doing quick computations, but it did not provide a good way to keep a permanent recording of quantities or computations. Different objects could be counted at the same time by representing different objects by different colored pebbles.

And finally, if a pebble was found on one of the two highest corner levels, its value was multiplied by twelve. If a pebble was placed on the second (shaded) level, its value was multiplied by six. When a pebble was put in the octagonal region in the middle of the slab, its value was tripled. If a pebble was put into one of the two (white) larger, rectangular compartments, its value was doubled. Note that there are 12 such squares around the outer edge of the figure. For example, a pebble in a smaller (white) compartment represented one unit. Pebbles were used to keep accounts and their positions within the various levels and compartments gave totals. The lighter shaded regions surrounding the corners are the second highest levels, while the clear white rectangles are the compartments cut into the stone slab. In the figure shown, the darkest shaded corner regions represent the highest, third level. Another two sections were mounted on the original surface of the slab so that there were actually three levels available. Two opposite corner rectangles were raised. In the slab were cut rectangular and square compartments so that an octagonal (eight-sided) region was left in the middle. To do these computations, they would sometimes use a counting board constructed with a slab of stone. (We will describe them in more detail in a moment.) However, they first often needed to do computations whose results would be recorded on quipu. To do this, they used what are called the “quipu” to record quantities of items. Where other peoples in the regions, such as the Mayans, were doing computations related to their rituals and calendars, the Incas seem to have been more concerned with the simpler task of record-keeping. It should be noted that the Incas did not have a complicated system of computation.

Inca civilization mida system