A Brief History of Numerical Systems

Education, History, Mathematics
May 1, 2020

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9… and 0. With just these ten symbols, we can write any rational number imaginable. But why these particular symbols? Why ten of them? And why do we arrange them the way we do? Alessandra King gives a brief history of numerical systems.

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Ali Kaya

This is Ali. Bespectacled and mustachioed father, math blogger, and soccer player. I also do consult for global math and science startups.

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