2024年2月23日 · The invention of numbers marks a cornerstone in the annals of human history, a key to unlocking the evolution of thought and language. As early societies grappled with the world around them, their creation of numerical systems signified a monumental leap …

Number systems have progressed from the use of fingers and tally marks, perhaps more than 40,000 years ago, to the use of sets of glyphs able to represent any conceivable number efficiently. The earliest known unambiguous notations for numbers emerged in Mesopotamia about 5000 or 6000 years ago.

2025年1月7日 · Several different claims, each having a certain amount of justification, have been made with respect to the origin of modern Western numerals, commonly spoken of as Arabic but preferably as Hindu-Arabic. These include the assertion that the origin is to be found among the Arabs, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus.

c. 20,000 BC — Nile Valley, Ishango Bone: suggested, though disputed, as the earliest reference to prime numbers as also a common number. [1] c. 3400 BC — the Sumerians invent the first so-known numeral system, [dubious – discuss] and a system of weights and measures.

2017年3月13日 · In the book, you talk at length about how our fascination with our hands—and five fingers on each—probably helped us invent numbers and from there we could use numbers to make other discoveries.

Many—often very different—number systems have been employed by many—again, very different—cultures and civilizations throughout the ages, and there still exists a wide variety of them even today, in our comparatively global society.

An introduction to the History of Numbers including curiosities and unique images

Humans have been using numbers to count with for thousands of years. It is a very natural thing to do. and so on. So we have: Counting Numbers: {1, 2, 3, ...} And the "Counting Numbers" satisfied people for a long time. The idea of zero, though natural to us now, was not natural to early humans ... if there is nothing to count, how can we count it?

2021年10月11日 · Explaining the origins : ethnological and psychological approaches to the sources of numbers -- Base numbers and the birth of number systems -- The earliest calculating machine-- the hand -- How Cro-Magnon Man counted -- Tally sticks : accounting for beginners -- Numbers on strings -- Number, value and money -- Numbers of Sumer -- The enigma of ...

2022年2月5日 · Exploring the many ways civilizations developed and changed their mathematical systems, Ifrah imparts a unique insight into the nature of human thought–and into how our understanding of numbers and the ways they shape our lives have changed and grown over thousands of years.