History of Numbers Home
Ancient Counting
Ancient cultures developed a need to count. Imagine someone trying to tell their friend how many cows they have without knowing numbers. This may prove to be difficult. Developing an efficient counting system was a huge development for mankind.(1)
Notches in a stick or a stone were the natural solution to counting for our ancestors. In the earliest surviving traces of a counting system, numbers are built up with a repeated sign for each group of 10 followed by another repeated sign for 1.
The drawings to the left were found in La Pileta cave in Spain and could be up to 25000 years old. (2)
What do you think these drawings represent? Could they be about counting things? What might 'stone-age' people count?
Notches in a stick or a stone were the natural solution to counting for our ancestors. In the earliest surviving traces of a counting system, numbers are built up with a repeated sign for each group of 10 followed by another repeated sign for 1.
The drawings to the left were found in La Pileta cave in Spain and could be up to 25000 years old. (2)
What do you think these drawings represent? Could they be about counting things? What might 'stone-age' people count?
Modern Numerals
Today, our number system, also called Hindu-Arabic numbers, consists of only 10 symbols or digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. These digits were introduced in Europe within the XII century by Leonardo Pisano (aka Fibonacci), an Italian mathematician. L. Pisano was educated in North Africa, where he learned and later carried to Italy the now popular Hindu-Arabic numerals. (4)
Number Systems and Bases
Each number system has a base. Our modern decimal system has base 10. The easiest way to think of a base is by the number of digits used. In our decimal system, each nuber written is made up of these 0-9 digits.
The key is understanding different systems is to think that they “tick over” when they are full. Base 10 “ticks over” when it gets 10 items, creating a new digit. We wait 60 seconds before “ticking over” to a new minute. (3)
Hexidecimal and binary are different number systems; they tick over every 16 and 2 items, respectively. (3)
The websites below were used to gather the information for this page. Please use the links for more information.
Number Systems and Bases
Each number system has a base. Our modern decimal system has base 10. The easiest way to think of a base is by the number of digits used. In our decimal system, each nuber written is made up of these 0-9 digits.
The key is understanding different systems is to think that they “tick over” when they are full. Base 10 “ticks over” when it gets 10 items, creating a new digit. We wait 60 seconds before “ticking over” to a new minute. (3)
Hexidecimal and binary are different number systems; they tick over every 16 and 2 items, respectively. (3)
The websites below were used to gather the information for this page. Please use the links for more information.