Using numbers that any person, regardless of language, could understand.
The UDC divides all human knowledge into ten main "houses" (classes), numbered 0 to 9:
Otlet and La Fontaine didn't just want a library; they wanted a "city of knowledge". In 1895, they founded the Mundaneum in Mons, Belgium—a pre-digital precursor to Google.
Using symbols like colons (:) or pluses (+) to show how different subjects—like Physics and Medicine —linked together to form new ideas like Biophysics . The System: A Mathematical Map of Mind
Able to cover every field of knowledge, from Philosophy to Engineering.
To make this work, they needed a classification system that was:
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