Mathematics is sometimes described a " universal language ," because its concepts are the same across all times and cultures. People were so sure of this that they used mathematics as a way to communicate with potential alien readers on the golden record of the Voyager space probe: Starting from the width of a hydrogen atom (the most common element in the universe), the record explains successively larger units of measurement, eventually working up to the location of Earth in the universe based on the positions of a series of pulsar stars relative to the Andromeda galaxy where the probe is eventually headed. This precision of mathematical measurements also can be used to estimate the scientific knowledge of different cultures, as in a widely cited passage from the Bible that allows one to calculate pi (roughly) from the dimensions of a basin in Solomon's temple. The more precise a culture's measurements, the more scientifically advanced it is understood to be. Pla...