There is one theory that writing actually developed as a result of accounting. Ancient mud tablets which seem to represent counts of heads of cattle and other agrarian accounts seem to be older than mud tablets with cuneiform writing. Some of the cuneiform characters seem to have been similar to the symbols used in the accounting of the ruler's extensive network of farms in ancient Mesopotamia. (Don't use this in a paper without confirming my recollections of theories that I have read about in some way.) But, it also seems that the modern mathematical system that uses the n-ary system of numerical notation probably also developed out of ancient accounting. Some brilliant accountant figured out that he could use a single character for 10 cattle he realized that he would not have to draw 32 cattle symbols to represent 32 heads of cattle, he would only have to draw 4 symbols. I mention this only to emphasize the idea that new ideas about the compression of computational objects may arise out of the most mundane of tasks and we may be casually discarding some ideas that might be useful without even realizing it. Jim Bromer
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