The Secrets of Numbers

In this Article you will read the most important information about the secrets of numbers and what was human’s inspiration that they invented those many thousands years ago.

Have you ever asked yourself why the number 0 is zero, 1 is one, 2 is two, and etc.? I have been researching for the origin of the numbers for many years. For everything, I always have a question which starts with “why”. We are using the numbers 0-9 every single day in our life. We talk about the numbers; we use them to call our friends and family; we use them to solve mathematical and physical problems; and etc. Our world could have no definition if we would not use the numbers anymore. After all, I asked myself, “What was the Inspiration to invent the numbers in this form what we are using and why did people use these to write the numbers?”

When you search in Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine you will find many information about the history of writing and numbers but no one talks about how the people invented the numbers thousands of years ago. I have tried many different ways to see if my theory, about the secrets of numbers, is right or not. Now, I am ready to let you know about my ideas and what I think about the numbers what we use them in our everyday life. But before you know about the secrets you should know about the history of writing and numbers. I have put together some important points from Wikipedia.

Invention of writing (More Info)

The oldest-known forms of writing were primarily logographic in nature, based on pictographic and ideographic elements. Most writing systems can be broadly divided into three categories: logographic, syllabic and alphabetic (or segmental); however, all three may be found in any given writing system in varying proportions, often making it difficult to categorize a system uniquely.

The invention of the first writing systems is roughly contemporary with the beginning of the Bronze Age in the late Neolithic of the late 4th millennium BC. The first writing system is generally believed to have been invented in Sumer, by the late 3rd millennium developing into the archaic cuneiform of the Ur III stage. Contemporaneously, the Proto-Elamite script developed into Linear Elamite.

The development of Egyptian hieroglyphs is also parallel to that of the Mesopotamian scripts, and not necessarily independent. The Egyptian proto-hieroglyphic symbol system develops into archaic hieroglyphs by 3200 BC and more widespread literacy by the mid 3rd millennium (Pyramid Texts).

The Indus script develops over the course of the 3rd millennium, either as a form of proto-writing, or already an archaic mode of writing, but its evolution was cut short by the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1900 BC.

The Chinese script may have originated independently of the Middle Eastern scripts, around the 16th century BC (early Shang Dynasty), out of a late Neolithic Chinese system of proto-writing dating back to c. 6000 BC.

The pre-Columbian writing systems of the Americas also had independent origins.

Almost all known writing systems of the world today are ultimately descended from writing as developed either in Egypt - see Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinai tic - or in China. There have been a number of notable exceptions, such as the Mayan hieroglyphs of Mesoamerica (developing from ca. the 3rd century BC), and possibly Rongorongo of the Easter Island.

Bronze Age writing

There are 7 different writing ages:

Cuneiform script, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Elamite scripts, Anatolian hieroglyphs, Cretan scripts, Early Semitic alphabets, Indus script, Chinese writing

After many years studying all these different Ages for Writing, I saw the most important was cuneiform Script in Persian. Because it is the only cuneiform Script that the archeologists could translate much easier than others.

Old Persian Cuneiform

Origin
Darius I (550-486 BC) claims credit for the invention of Old Persian Cuneiform in an inscription on a cliff at Behistun in south-west Iran (Persian). The inscription dates from 520 BC and is in three languages – Elamite, Babylonian, and Old Persian. Some scholars are skeptical about Darius' claims; others take them seriously, although they think that Darius probably commissioned his scribes to create the alphabet, rather than inventing it himself.

Old Persian
The language used in the cuneiform inscriptions of Achaemenian dynasty and the vernacular of the Achaemenian elite. Old Persian was spoken in southwestern Persia, an area known as Persis, and belongs to the Iranian branch or the Indo-Aryan family of languages.

The Evolution of Numbers
The evolution of numbers most early number symbols started as variations on I, II, III. Babylonian numbers (circa 200 BC) were made on pieces of wet clay with the end of a stick. For larger numbers they invented a shape for the number ten, and used multiples of that for 20, 30 and soon, till 60, which was represented by the symbol for 1, and 120 by 2, etc.  Modern numerical notation is quite different. Instead of repeating the same stroke to denote larger numbers, we use a whole series of different symbols. And instead of having a distinct symbol for ten and multiples of ten, we use those same symbols (1 to 9) plus a new one (0). It is position that denotes whether a digit is a unit, ten, hundred or thousand, and so on. This is how the so-called "base ten" or decimal system works.  The Mayans, who lived in South America around AD 1000, worked to base 20. In their system the symbols equivalent to our 525 would mean (5 x 20 x 20) + (2 x 20) + (5 x 1), which is 2,045 in our notation.  The numerical base a society uses affects which numbers are regarded significant. Cricket fans always get upset when a batsman scores 49 and then is out, because he has just missed a half-century. But this is a decimalize way of viewing the situation.
If the Mayans had played cricket, that number of runs would be represented by 29. For aliens on the planet Silimidon, where they use base seven, an innings of 49 is a century: (1 x 7 x 7) + (0 x 7) + (0 x 1) = 49.

And now after you read some about Writing you are ready to get information about the Secrets of Numbers.

Humans have been inventing new things in their whole life. They have been looking for something because they needed them usually in their life but they never have invented something without any Inspiration. The Inspiration for Numbers 0-9 was how many Rectangles they have. They use it because it was the easiest way to understand and to teach them to others. Zero was at the beginning only a Dot and didn’t have any Rectangle. 1 has only One Rectangle, Two has 2 Rectangles … and 9 has Nine Rectangles. It was logical and anyone could understand it. Picture below is showing what I actually mean with that.

 Every point is presenting a Rectangle.

© 2007 All Rights Reserved by Amir Nouri

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