Evolution of the

Number System

By:
Piyush Gupta

Evolution of the
Number System

DIFFERENT TYPES OF NUMERALS

NAME

SAMPLE

APPROX. FIRST
APPEARANCE

Babylonian numerals

3100 BC

Chinese numerals,
Japanese numerals,
Korean numerals

Unknown

Egyptian numerals

3000 BC

Roman numerals

1000 BC

DIFFERENT TYPES OF NUMERALS

NAME

SAMPLE

APPROX. FIRST
APPEARANCE

Greek numerals

After 100 BC

Chinese rod numerals

1st Century

Hindu-Arabic
Numerals

1st Century

John Napier's
Location arithmetic

1617

NECESSITY OF NUMBER SYSTEM

The number system that we have today,
commonly known as Hindu-Arabic Numerals,
has evolved so much and come through a
long route.
It came about because
human beings wanted to
solve problems and mainly,
wanted
to
know
the
quantity of a particular
thing. So they started
creating numbers to solve
these problems.

In Olden Days, The "Counting Numbers"

satisfied people for a long time

Counting through Fingers

The "Counting Numbers" satisfied people

for a long time

Counting through
Symbols

The "Counting Numbers" satisfied people

for a long time

Zero Dog(s)

Two Dogs

Counting through
Sticks

Discovery of 0

Though
humans
have
always
understood the concept of nothing or
having nothing, the concept of ZERO is
relatively new.
They wanted to find some number to
represent a nil value. So they found 0
to represent a nil value.
Some people say that Zero was
invented
independently
by
the
Babylonians, Mayans and Indians.

Discovery of 0
Many mathematicians of
suggested for symbolizing
they introduced the symbol
nothing, to the world and
things easier.

different era have

NOTHING. Then
0 for symbolizing
made complicated

Indian texts used a Sanskrit word Shunye or

Shunya to refer to the concept of void.
In
mathematics texts this word often refers to the
number ZERO.
But even now people are not sure whether zero
was discovered by Aryabhatta or Brahmagupta,
an Indian Mathematician.

But still it was not easier. So people started to find

Number Systems
NUMBER SYSTEM:
A number system is a writing
system for expressing numbers, that is, a
mathematical notation for representing numbers
of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a
consistent manner.

Natural Numbers
The natural numbers are those used for
counting and ordering.
Natural numbers are represented by .
Example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Whole Numbers
Whole number is collection of positive
numbers and zero.
Example: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Integers
An integer is a number that can be written
without a fractional component.
Integers are represented by , standing
for the German word Zahlen.
Example: 21, -4, are integers, while 9.75,
5, and 2 are not.

Rational Numbers
A Rational Number is any number that can
be expressed as the quotient or fraction p/q
of two integers, where p and q are integers
and
q q0.
Since
may be equal to 1,
every integer is a rational
number.
Rational numbers are
represented by . It was thus
denoted in 1895 by Peano.
Example: , .

Irrational Numbers
An irrational number is any number that
cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers.
Irrational numbers cannot be represented
as terminating or repeating decimals.
Example: 5, 3, 6.

Real Numbers
A real number is a number which includes
natural, whole, integers, rational and
irrational numbers.
Real numbers are represented by
Example: 1, -4, , 3.

Imaginary Numbers
An imaginary number is a number that can
be written as a real number multiplied by
the imaginary unit i, which is defined by its
property i2 = 1. The square of an
imaginary number bi is b2.
Example: 5i is an imaginary number, and
its square is 25.

Complex Numbers
A complex number is a number that can
be expressed in the form a + bi, where a
and b are real numbers and i is the
imaginary unit, that satisfies the equation
x2 = 1, that is, i2 = 1.
In this expression, a is the real part and b
is the imaginary part of the complex
number.
Complex numbers are represented by .

The Number System