ANCIENT GREEKS HAD NO CYPHERS AS WE DO TODAY(0-9). INSTEAD THE ALPHABET IT SELFM WAS MADE TO DO A DUAL PURPOSE. BUT A GIVEN CHARACTER HAD IT’S CORRESPONDING NUMBER. FOR EXAMPLE AN ALPHABET ALSO STOOD FOR THE NUMBER

1The symbol for one may come from a finger. Everyone starts off counting on their fingers!10The symbols get more complicated as the numbers get bigger. The symbol for ten is a piece of rope.100The symbol for a hundred is a coil of rope.1,000The symbol for a thousand is the lotus or water lily. It shows the leaf, stem and rhizome or root. It seems odd not to show the flower, but you can eat the root.10,000The symbol for ten thousand is a single, large finger. Perhaps it is a finger ten thousand times as big as the symbol for one!100,000The symbol for a hundred thousand is a tadpole. It seems to be nearly turning into a frog. If you want to know why this is the symbol for such a large number, imagine a pool full of frog spawn all turning into tiny frogs.1,000,000The symbol for a million is a god called Heh. It also means just a very large number, like 'squillion'. I think it looks like a fisherman describing how big was the fish that got away - "It was enormous!"The Egyptians even had this symbol for infinity, which is bigger than any number that's ever been written. It is a circle, so you go round forever without finding an end.

In our number system (called Arabic numbers), we have ten digits (from 0-9) and we can make as big a number as we want with these. We use all ten digits to count to nine, then we combine them to make bigger numbers. So we never run out of numbers, as long as there is room to write them down! The more digits there are, the longer the number is. The ancient Romans didn't think this. They repeated symbols, so one was I and 2 was II. For larger numbers, they invented new symbols, so five was V, ten was X, and so on. But they didn't have a symbol for zero. They didn't need it. numbers

The Indians invented the modern number system. It is often called Arabic numerals because it came to Europe through the Arabs. But Arabs themselves call it as "HindSaa" meaning - "given by Hindus or Indians". The Persians copied the Indian number system and then passed it on to the Arabs. Then an Italian mathematician named Fibonacci traveled to Algeria to study. When he came back home, he brought the Indian numerals with him. He wrote about the system in his book "Liber Abaci." This system soon gained wide acceptance throughout Europe. Today it is the number system used in practically the whole world. stem stem

IN MY OPINION THE ANCIENTS USED NUMBERS BY WRITING SIGNS FOR EACH NUMBER AND IN ANCIENT ROME THEY DID NOT HAVE ANY SYMBOL FOR ZERO AND ANCIENT EGYPT WROTE THEIR SYMBOLS ACCORDING TO A DESCRIPTION OF HOW PEOPLE USED COUNTING AND ETC. IT IS REALLY HARD TO WRITE THEIR SYMBOLS DOWN AND UNDERSTAND THEM. I LIKE THE ARABIC NUMBER SYSTEM.