LESSON 2

THE HINDU NUMBER SYSTEM

The Hindu-Arabic numeration system evolved around A.D. 800. It is basically the
numeration system that is widely used today.
The zero was very important in the development of the Hindu number system, as it
allowed for the introduction of a place-value decimal system using only nine other symbols.
This made calculations much simpler than any previous system could have provide. The
zero later reached the Arabs, who were not very fond of it. Even the great al-Khwȃrȋzmȋ
who has given name to the word “algebra” – considered there to be only nine numerals,
even though he made use of the zero.

The following are lists of four main attributes of this numeration system:
First, it uses ten digits or symbols that can be used in combination to represent all
possible numbers. This digits are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Second, it groups by tens, probably because we have ten digits on our hands.
Interestingly enough, the word digit literally means finger of toes.
In the Hindu-Arabic numeration system, ten ones are replaced by one ten, ten tens
are replaced by one hundred, ten hundreds are replaced by one thousand, ten one
thousand are replaced by ten thousands, and so forth….

Third, it uses a place value that starts from right to left.

For example, in the numerical *4687:
there are 7 ones, 8 tens, 6 hundreds, and 4 thousands

Finally, the system is additive and multiplicative. The value of a numerical is found
by multiplying each place value by its corresponding digit and then adding the resulting
products.

Place values: thousand hundred ten one

Digits: 4 6 8 7
Numerical value is equal to:
(4 x 1000) + (6 x 100) + (8 x 10) + (7 x 1) = 4000 + 600 + 80 + 7 = 4687
 Notice that the Hindu-Arabic numeration system requires fewer symbols to represent
numbers as opposed to other numeration system.

Here is short list:

0: Zero 10: Ten
1: One 11: Eleven
2: Two 15: Fifteen
3: Three 20: Twenty
4: Four 34: Thirty-four
5: Five 40: Forty
6: Six 100: One hundred
7: Seven 590: Five hundred ninety
8: Eight 5083: Five thousand eighty-three
9: Nine 56000: Fifty-six thousand
 LESSON 3

THE EGYPTIAN NUMBER SYSTEM

The first signs of the Egyptian hieroglyphic number system date around 3000 B.C.E.
It uses special symbols to represent numbers that are power of 10. Number words are not
known, but numerals have been preserve.
This are some examples of symbols they have used:

Here is an example how to write Egyptian numbers:

*245 can be represented as:

*1093 can be represented as:

Activity:
A. Rewrite the following Egyptian symbols into Hindu-Arabic numeration system.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

B. Rewrite the following Hindu-Arabic numeration into Egyptian symbols.

1. 2,320,111
2. 200,059
3. 989
4. 890,045
5. 3,650