• Question: who created numbers

    Asked by unbe534harm62 on 20 Nov 2025. This question was also asked by onto534harm62.
    • Photo: Stefani Duncan

      Stefani Duncan answered on 20 Nov 2025:


      Wow, what a great question!

      Early humans used tally marks on cave walls or bones to record quantities but the earliest known numbers come from the Middle East around 10,000 BC. The words we use for numbers were derived from Latin and Greek, and most likely came from the Egyptians.

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 21 Nov 2025:


      The general idea of numbers/counting was developed independently by lots of different groups of people. The numbers we use now, are the result of many different number systems that have come and gone or been adapted (just like how English or the alphabet has evolved over time). The number system we use 1,2,3 etc., are the internationally standard symbols called Western Arabic but you will still other types like Roman Numerals, hexadecimal, binary etc.

    • Photo: Emily Walls

      Emily Walls answered on 24 Nov 2025:


      Realistically no single person invented numbers, its a concept that developed gradually across different civilizations over thousands of years to meet the need for counting and measuring. Ancient systems like the early Egyptian decimal system and the Sumerian system were some of the first attempts, but the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, which we use today, originated in India and was later transmitted to the rest of the world through Islamic mathematicians.

Comments