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Easy as 1 , 2 , 3 – right�
Our modern counting system was first
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developed in India and the Middle East , |
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so it ’ s known as the Hindu-Arabic |
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system . It ’ s a base-10 ( or decimal ) |
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system ; it uses ten digits ( 0-9 ) and the |
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position of a digit within a number |
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changes depending on whether it ’ s |
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representing units , tens , hundreds or an |
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even larger multiple of ten . For example , |
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the ‘ 3 ’ in 34 is 10 times larger than the ‘ 3 ’ |
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in 43 . |
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While the Hindu-Arabic system is the |
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most widespread , it ’ s not the only |
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number system . The Oksapmin people of |
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Papua New Guinea in the south-western |
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Pacific count using a base-27 system , |
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with numbers named after 27 parts of the |
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upper body . The Tzotzil , an indigenous |
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Maya people who live in southern Mexico , |
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have a base-20 system . Why ? Because it ’ s |
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the number of fingers and toes most |
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people have . Above 20 , the numbers refer
to the fingers and toes of ‘ the second
man ’, ‘ the third man ’ and so on .
Many groups and languages have ways of
counting to pretty high numbers , even if
the words for those numbers sound more
like equations . In Supyire , a language
spoken in Mali , the number 799 is said as 400 +( 80x4 )+( 20x3 )+ 10 + 5 + 4 ( Wow , this must surely make you extra-good at mental arithmetic . Ed ).
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A fuss about nothing
Ask someone what 2 – 2 equals and
they ’ ll probably be able to give you the
answer without much trouble . But not
long ago you ’ d have been met with a
blank face . ‘ Not long ago ’ in the whole
history of numbers , that is . Because ,
while it seems as important as all the
other digits now , there wasn ’ t always a
zero . That ’ s right ; for a long time , there
was nothing that represented nothing !
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itself resulted in zero . It took another 500
years for zero to reach Europe , and even
then religious leaders tried to ban its use for a while . ( So really they didn ’ t try to ban anything , if they banned nothing ! Ed )
It might seem insignificant – it is nothing ,
after all – but having a symbol that could
be used to represent the concept of
nothing completely changed
mathematics . It opened the door for
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Historians believe the earliest known |
negative ( or minus ) numbers , allowed |
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FUN FACT TRUMPET For some people , big numbers |
zero-like symbol dates from ancient
Babylon in the 3rd century BCE : just over
2,000 years ago . A similar symbol
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mathematicians to create calculus , and
became a vital part of the calculations
needed for engineering , electronics and
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just aren ’ t necessary . The Pirahã |
appeared in the Mayan calendar around |
computer science . This simple little |
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live in a remote part of the
Brazilian Amazon , and their
traditional , self-sufficient ,
hunter-gatherer lifestyle means
they have little need for counting .
In their language , there are no
words for specific numbers . The
closest they get is using relative
terms that mean something like
‘ few ’, ‘ some ’ and ‘ more ’.
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350 CE . These zeros were simple
placeholders ; they helped to make up
other numbers , like the zeros in 405
or 6,050 .
Zero didn ’ t become a ‘ real ’ number in its
own right until the 7th century , when
people started to use it as a value in their
calculations . The Indian mathematician
Brahmagupta was the first person to
show that subtracting a number from
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symbol literally changed the world and
the way we live today .
TAKING IT FURTHER
Imagine it ’ s the year 3022 and powerful
supercomputers have completely
transformed every field of mathematics .
What do you think will be possible in
1 , 000 years ? Why not write to us at the
usual address and let us know ? We ’ ll
share as many responses as we can .
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Words : Victoria Williams . Illustration : Kaley McKean |
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