# Florio 2025: Inka numbers, khipu, and yupana: A reanalysis

> Cinzia Florio, Karenleigh A. Overmann, 2025. 4 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The published challenge to the positional reading of the knot…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D4V7SGM3D0Q/inka-numbers-khipu-and-yupana-a-reanalysis  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Inka khipus: the knotted-cord records](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/khipu)Florio 2025

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# Inka numbers, khipu, and yupana: A reanalysis

Cinzia Florio, Karenleigh A. Overmann, 2025. _SocArXiv_.

Re-reads Guamán Poma's 1615 yupana drawing as a multiplication algorithm and argues that Inka numbers were non-positional and lacked a concept of zero.

**Inka khipus: the knotted-cord records** Preprintdoi: **[10.31235/osf.io/w5yck_v1](https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/w5yck_v1)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The published challenge to the positional reading of the knot numbers.

## Cited by on this site 4 records

[The system is better described as non-positional and without a concept of zero, closer to other ancient…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/khipu/answers/ANS0D4V857M58VY/the-system-is-better-described-as-non-positional-and-without)

Answer

ANS

[A reanalysis of Guamán Poma's 1615 yupana drawing reads it as a non-positional multiplication method.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/khipu/evidence/EVD0D4V85FE52FX/a-reanalysis-of-guaman-pomas-1615-yupana-drawing-reads-it-as)

Evidence

EVD

[Inka khipus: the knotted-cord records](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/khipu)

The mystery article

MYS

[Is the khipu number system positional with a zero, or non-positional?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/khipu/questions/QST0D4V803J64R8/is-the-khipu-number-system-positional-with-a-zero-or-non)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Florio, C., & Overmann, K. A. (2025). Inka numbers, khipu, and yupana: A reanalysis. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/w5yck_v1
```

[Read it free at osf.io](https://osf.io/w5yck_v1)

Key

**SRC** 0D4V7SGM3D0Q

Kind

Preprint

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

28 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published original

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D4V7SGM3D0Q/inka-numbers-khipu-and-yupana-a-reanalysis/csl.json)
