Definition: Numbers are simply a set of symbols that represent quantity.
Two apples, five spoons, ten books, one hundred rubles, seven tulips. We use numbers every day, sometimes without even noticing it.
In early times, people represented the number of objects with sticks:
- One item was represented as |
- Two objects as | |
- Three objects as | | |
- Four objects as | | | |
- Five objects as | | | | |
As literacy increased, people realized that sticks could not represent large numbers, so they replaced them with digits, which we still use today - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Numbers often scare away schoolchildren and students because they are associated with "scary formulas" in mathematics. In fact, there's nothing scary about them. Numbers simply represent quantity or the number of items.
That's all there is to it. This introduction to numbers is complete. We will learn more about them in the future, but for now, this lesson is over.
Comments
Wish me god speed from Israel.
Thank you, Ken. I just did an assessment and did poorly and decided to search for anything that would help. Came across this website and your comment, I'm encouraged. Thank you.
As used here, the word "numbers" and "number" wants to mean "digits/symbols" and "quantity of items"
After reading this, you are a serious motivation to me. Thank you so much.