How the use of numbers began

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HOW THE USE OF NUMBERS BEGAN

Many thousands of years ago this was a world without numbers. Nobody missed them. Everyone knew just what belonged to him and what not. If a cow was missing, the owner knew it was gone, not by counting cows, but for the same reason your mother would know if you did not come home for dinner.

But some people acquired more and more property. They would count¹ one cow, two cows, three cows; one vase, two vases and three vases; always one, two, three or more of something they owned or saw.

How far we have advanced from the time of our ancestors! Today, using numbers, numerals and mathematics, man builds bridges, skyscrapers, flies off the earth like a bird, even measures the distance to the moon and the brightness of the light given off by the firefly. But just as important² thought not so exciting, is that he can tell the time, pay the grocer, count the runs in a baseball game and use the same numbers in many different ways in everyday life.

So you see, mathematics and numbers, from simple arithmetic to complex algebraic and geometric calculations, are important to life in our time.

Roman Numerals. The Romans used seven capital letters to represent numbers³. They mixed them together to form many different combinations.

The Roman system of numbers is based upon⁴ the letters, I, V, X, C, D and M. This is what each letter represents:

Roman Numeral	I	V	X	L	C	D	M
Hindu-Arabic Numeral

Notes:

¹ they would count – они обычно считали

² just as important - так

³ to represent numbers – для обозначения чисел

⁴ to base upon – основываться на