Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Numbers, Number system and Numeral system

A Number is an abstract object, tokens of which are symbols, used for counting and measuring quantities. These symbols which represent the number are called numerals.

1,2,3 etc of the Arabic Numeral System,
I, II, III etc of the Roman Numeral System are examples of symbols alias numeral.

However in common usage the word number is used for both the abstract object and the symbol

The realization that two apples and two oranges have something in common was a breakthrough in human thought that lead to the discovery of numbers. In addition to recognizing how to count physical objects, prehistoric peoples also recognized how to count abstract quantities, like time — days, seasons, years. Arithmetic calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), naturally followed them.

A Number system is a set of numbers, together with one or more operations, such as addition or multiplication. In other words, Numbers can be classified into sets, called number systems, like Natural numbers, Real numbers etc.

A Numeral system (or system of numeration) is a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set by symbols in a consistent manner. Arabic numeral system is the most commonly used numeral system. Other systems like Roman numeral system, Maya numeral system etc which are numeral systems by culture and Decimal, Binary, Octal numeral systems etc are positional notional or place value notation systems.

Numeral systems are sometimes called number systems, but that name is misleading, as it could refer to different systems of numbers, such as the system of real numbers, the system of complex numbers etc.

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