[goatinaboat]

Probably? I mean, look what the world achieved after it left roman numerals behind.

Yet the Romans were able to construct aqueducts that are still standing, and a road network spanning thousands of miles, and many other great feats of civil engineering.

[mywittyname]

It's pretty likely that architects of the time understood place-based arithmetic and used calculators similar to an abacus, even if society as a whole used Roman numerals. The tools a layman use is sometimes different than what a professional does.

We know that other civilization in the region we adept with arithmetic and geometry. And Rome's straight roads and aqueducts are evidence that their citizens understood the practical applications of such mathematics. So it stands to reason someone in the process understood how to perform arithmetic using a place-based notation. Even if they were only generating calculation tables used by field engineers.

I'm sure people devised clever tools that allowed builders to actually build these structures. Much like a roofer today doesn't need to perform any calculations beyond measurements, because they are taught how to use a speed-square to quickly find the correct angles for cutting rafters.

[ciceryadam]

Plus Eratosthenes and Cleomedes got pretty close on calculating the Earth's circumference.

[AnimalMuppet]

Sure. But they did those things by experience and rules of thumb. They didn't do a real stress analysis on those aqueducts, for instance.

[mdiesel]

For those interested in reading further, the ideal (unloaded) shape of an arch isn't a semicircle, but a catenary.

It sounds so simple: so hangs the chain, stands the arch. Took until Hooke in the 17th century before that was written down, though there are earlier (15th century) examples in architecture.

The Romans were still working on the Greek ideology that the circle was the perfect shape. Not to belittle what they did, but the key advances were really in concrete and having an authoritarian empire giving unprecedented resources to public works.

[ahazred8ta]

"Ut pendet continuum flexile, sic stabit contiguum rigidum inversum -- As hangs a flexible cable, so inverted stand the touching pieces of an arch." (although they figured out at some point that this curve was close to being a parabola)

[goatinaboat]

They didn't do a real stress analysis on those aqueducts, for instance.

The Romans tested bridges by having the engineers stand under while a legion marched over.