Magic Of Numbers

Let’s start this article with a bunch of questions. How many fingers do you have? How many days are there in a month? How many planets are there in our solar system? I’m sure each one of you knows the answers to these questions but the answers would be in numbers, right? You wouldn’t be able to answer these questions if humans never developed a numeral system. Numbers are so important in our lives but we don’t acknowledge them. They surely have made our lives easier.

Without numbers, it was very difficult to communicate in the stone age. Hunters were unable to tell each other how many animals were there and how many did they have to kill in order to bring them to their cave. In the beginning, they started counting on fingers but as we only have 10 fingers, for a large number of animals they didn’t know how to tell. Then they used drawing on walls or stones to keep a count. But that also became very complicated after a while.

After the humans commenced civilization, there was a need for a system to be able to measure. There were many attempts to develop a system that would be very effective in measuring figures. A system that could count large figures without being complicated after a while. Ancient Egyptians developed a system of their own called hieroglyphics which is nothing but the use of images to represent numbers. Like they used a rod for a number one, for 10 they used a horseshoe, for hundred they used a coiled rope, for thousand a lotus flower, etc.

Although it was very progressive then tally marks cavemen used to draw on stones and also it solved the problem for a large quantity but it also had its limitations. It became complex for the number that didn’t have the symbols assigned to it. For example, to write the number one hundred and ninety-five they had to draw one coiled rope for a hundred, nine horseshoes for ninety, and five rods for five. For larger quantities, it became more and more difficult.

After the Egyptians, ancient Greeks developed their numeric system which was mainly the use of symbols, this system is also known as the Milesian numeral system. It was also very complicated due to the various tricky symbols. Then came the Roman numerals which had a great impact on the mathematical field. The Roman numerals were very prevalent. They use the base ten for their numeral system because of the observation of 10 fingers, 10 toes.

But India was very advanced in mathematics since ancient times. Two Indian mathematicians Aryabhata and Kusumapura developed the place-value notation in the 5th century. That was a very big achievement in the numeric system at that time. The number zero was invented in India by Aryabhata.

By the 8th century, Indian mathematicians had perfected the numeral system. The Hindu numeral system was very basic and acceptable to the people and it also had very few limitations and could be used for counting and measuring.

The word spread and the system too. By the 15th century, the Hindu Arabic numeral system had replaced Roman numerals in everyday life. And that’s how some curious and efficient minds of the created a method and developed the field of mathematics from zero, so be creative and be curious and to know your curiosity type click here.