Quipu

Author

Eric W. Weisstein
August 30, 2026

This notebook downloaded from https://mathworld.wolfram.com/notebooks/History/Quipu.nb.

For more information, see Eric's MathWorld entry https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Quipu.html.

©2026 Wolfram Research, Inc. except for portions noted otherwise

Figure

A schematic decimal quipu cord encoding 2431 by place value.

Graphics[{{Directive[RGBColor[0.48, 0.29, 0.12], AbsoluteThickness[5]], Line[{{0.2, 5}, {5.8, 5}}]}, Text[Style["place", FontFamily -> "Times", 13], {0.65, 5.35}], Text[Style["knots on pendant cord", FontFamily -> "Times", 13], {2.5, 5.35}], Text[Style["value", FontFamily -> "Times", 13], {4.3, 5.35}], {Directive[RGBColor[0.62, 0.4, 0.18], AbsoluteThickness[3]], Line[{{2.5, 5}, {2.5, 0.65}}]}, {Directive[LightDarkSwitched[Darker[StandardGray, 0.55], Lighter[StandardGray, 0.55]], AbsoluteThickness[1], Dashed], Line /@ Table[{{1.25, y}, {2.1, y}}, {y, {4.1, 3.1, 2.1, 1.1}}]}, MapThread[Text[Style[#1, FontFamily -> "Times", 14], {0.65, #2}] & , {{"thousands", "hundreds", "tens", "units"}, {4.1, 3.1, 2.1, 1.1}}], {RGBColor[0.72, 0.24, 0.18], Table[Disk[{2.5 + 0.18*k, 4.1}, 0.09], {k, {-2^(-1), 1/2}}], Table[Disk[{2.5 + 0.18*k, 3.1}, 0.09], {k, {-3/2, -2^(-1), 1/2, 3/2}}], Table[Disk[{2.5 + 0.18*k, 2.1}, 0.09], {k, {-1, 0, 1}}], AbsoluteThickness[3], Line[{{2.38, 0.92}, {2.62, 1.12}, {2.38, 1.3}, {2.62, 1.3}, {2.38, 1.12}, {2.62, 0.92}}]}, Text[Style[2 1000, FontFamily -> "Times", 14], {4.3, 4.1}], Text[Style[4 100, FontFamily -> "Times", 14], {4.3, 3.1}], Text[Style[3 10, FontFamily -> "Times", 14], {4.3, 2.1}], Text[Style["1 (figure-eight knot)", FontFamily -> "Times", 14], {4.3, 1.1}], Text[Style[2431==2 1000+4 100+3 10+1, FontFamily -> "Times", 16], {3, 0.25}]}, Axes -> False, PlotRangePadding -> Scaled[0.08]]