Lesson-excursion in mathematics "Old Russian number system". Ancient numbers and figures Ancient Russia figures

Old Slavonic number system

Story

In the Middle Ages, on the lands where the Slavs lived, they used the Cyrillic alphabet, a system for writing numbers based on this alphabet was widespread. Indian numerals appeared in 1611. By that time, Slavic numbering was used, consisting of 27 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. Above the letters, denoting the numbers put a mark - titlo. At the beginning of the XVIII century. as a result of the reform introduced by Peter I, Indian numerals and the Indian number system replaced Slavic numbering from use, although in Russian Orthodox Church(in books) it is still used today. Cyrillic numerals are derived from Greek. In form, these are ordinary letters of the alphabet with special marks indicating their numerical reading. The Greek and Old Slavonic ways of writing numbers had much in common, but there were also differences. The handwritten work of the Novgorod monk Kirik, written by him in 1136, is still considered the first Russian monument of mathematical content. In this work, Kirik showed himself to be a very skillful counter and a great number lover. The main tasks that are considered by Kirik are of chronological order: the calculation of time, the flow between any events. When calculating, Kirik used the numbering system, which was called the small list and was expressed by the following names:

10000 - darkness

100000 - legion

In addition to a small list, in Ancient Russia there was also a large list, which made it possible to operate with very large numbers. In the system of a large list of basic bit units, they had the same names as in a small one, but the ratio between these units was different, namely:

a thousand thousand - darkness,

darkness to darkness is a legion,

legion of legions - leodrus,

leodr leodriv - raven,

10 ravens - a log.

About the last of these numbers, that is, about the log, it was said: "And more than this is understandable to the human mind." Units, tens and hundreds were represented by Slavic letters with a ~ sign above them, called "titlo", to distinguish numbers from letters. Darkness, legion and leodre were represented by the same letters, but to distinguish them from units, tens, hundreds and thousandths were circled. With numerous fractions of one hour, Kirik introduced his system of fractional units, and he called the fifth part the second hour, the twenty-fifth - three hours, the one hundred and twenty-fifth - four hours, etc. He had the smallest fraction of seven hours, and he believed that there can no longer be smaller fractions of hours: “This does not happen anymore, there are not born from the seventh fractional, which will be 987500 in days.” When making calculations, Kirik did the operations of addition and multiplication, and distribution, in all likelihood, he carried out shlyakhompidbora, considering successively multiples for a given dividend and divisor. Kirik made the main chronological calculations from the date, which was taken in Ancient Russia as the date of the creation of the world. Calculating in this way the moment of writing his work, Kirik (with an error of 24 months) states that 79,728 months have passed since the creation of the world, or 200 unknown and 90 unknown and 1 unknown and 652 hours. Kirik determines his age by the same kind of calculation, and we learn that he was born in 1110. Operating with fractional hours, Kirik in essence dealt with a geometric progression with a denominator of 5. In the work of Kirik, a place is also given to the issue of calculating paschals, which is so important for churchmen and being one of the most difficult arithmetic questions, the ministers of the church had to solve. If Kirik does not give general methods of such calculations, in any case he shows his ability to do them. Kirik's handwritten work is the only mathematical document that has come down to us since those distant times. However, this does not mean at all that other mathematical works did not exist in Russia at that time. It must be assumed that many manuscripts have been lost to us due to the fact that they were lost during the troubled years of princely civil strife, perished in fires, and always accompanied the raids of neighboring peoples on Russia.

Learning to count

Let's write down the numbers 23 and 444 in the Slavic number system.

We see that the entry turned out to be no longer than our decimal. This is because alphabetic systems used at least 27 "digits". But these systems were only convenient for writing numbers up to 1000. True, the Slavs, like the Greeks, knew how to write numbers and more than 1000. For this, new designations were added to the alphabetical system. So, for example, the numbers 1000, 2000, 3000 ... were written in the same “numbers” as 1, 2, 3 ..., only a special sign was placed in front of the “number” from the bottom left. The number 10000 was denoted by the same letter as 1, only without a title, it was circled. This number was called "darkness". Hence the expression "darkness of the people."


Thus, to designate "themes" (plural of the word darkness), the first 9 "digits" were circled.

10 topics, or 100,000, was the highest order unit. They called it Legion. 10 legions made up the "leord". The largest of the quantities that have their own designation was called the "deck", it was equal to 1050. It was believed that "more than this should be understood by the human mind." This way of writing numbers, as in the alphabetical system, can be considered as the beginnings of a positional system, since it used the same symbols to designate units of different digits, to which only special characters were added to determine the value of the digit. Alphabetical number systems were not very suitable for operating with large numbers. In the course of the development of human society, these systems gave way to positional systems.

Hello. In this episode of TranslatorsCafe.com, we're talking about numbers. We'll consider various systems reckoning and classification of numbers, and also discuss interesting facts about numbers. Number is an abstract mathematical concept denoting quantity. Numbers have been used by man for counting since ancient times. At first, numbers were indicated with counting sticks, or notches, or dashes on wood or bone. Later, numbers began to be used in more abstract systems. There are many ways to express and work with numbers; we will look at some of them a little later in this video. Number systems have evolved over many centuries. Some ancient systems have been replaced by others that are more convenient to use. Some systems, which we will discuss below, are no longer in use. Scientists believe that the concept of number arose independently in different cultures. Symbols for writing numbers also originated in each culture separately. Gradually, with the development of trade, people began to exchange ideas and borrow from each other the principles of counting or writing numbers. Therefore, the number systems that we now use were created by many peoples. The Arabic numeral system is one of the most widely used systems. It was borrowed from India and refined by Persian and Arabic mathematicians. In the Middle Ages, this system spread to Europe as a result of trade and replaced the Roman numerals. Influenced the spread of Arabic numerals and European colonization. In Europe, Arabic numerals were first used in monasteries, and later in secular society. The Arabic system is decimal, that is, with base 10. It uses ten characters that can express all possible numbers. Ten is one of the most widely used numbers in counting systems, and the decimal system is common in many countries. This is due to the fact that for a long time people used ten fingers on their hands for counting. Until now, people who are learning to count or want to illustrate an example related to counting use their fingers. There are even such expressions as "count on fingers." In some cultures, the toes, the knuckles, and even the spaces between the fingers were also used for counting. Interestingly, in many languages ​​word , denoting fingers and numbers - the same thing. For example, in English, this word is "digit". Roman numerals were used in ancient Rome and Europe until about the 14th century. They are still used in some cases, such as on watch dials. You can meet them in the names of the Pope. Roman numerals are also often used in the names of recurring events, such as the Olympic Games. The Roman numeral system uses the seven letters of the Latin alphabet to represent all possible combinations of numbers: The order in which numbers are written in the Roman numeral system matters. The larger number to the left of the smaller one means that both numbers must be added. On the other hand, the smaller number to the left of the larger one should be subtracted from the larger number. For example, this number is eleven, and this is 9. This rule is not universal and only applies to numbers like: IV (4), IX (9), XL (40), XC (90), CD (400) and CM (900). In some cases these rules are not respected and the numbers are written in a row, such as this number meaning 50. An inscription in Latin using Roman numerals on the Admiralty Arch in London reads: In the tenth year of the reign of King Edward VII to Queen Victoria from grateful citizens, 1910 Many cultures used number systems similar to Roman and Arabic. For example, in the Cyrillic number system, numbers from one to nine, ten, and multiples of one hundred were written in Cyrillic letters. There were also signs for larger numbers. There was also a special sign, similar to a tilde, which was written over such numbers to show that they were not letters. There was a similar system using the Glagolitic alphabet. In the Hebrew numeral system, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet recorded numbers from one to ten, multiples of ten, as well as one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, and four hundred. The remaining numbers were written as the sum or product of these numbers. The Greek number system is also similar to the systems above. In some cultures, number systems were simpler. For example, Babylonian numerals could be written with just two cuneiform characters, denoting one and ten. The sign for one is like a big "T" and the sign for ten is like a "C". So, for example, 32 can be written like this, using the appropriate cuneiform signs. The Egyptian number system is similar, only it also had symbols for zero, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, one hundred thousand and a million, and there were also special signs for writing fractions. Maya numbers were written using the signs for zero, one, and five. Numbers above nineteen also had a peculiar spelling. They used the signs for one and five, but with a different arrangement, to show that the meaning of these numbers is different. In the unit or unary number system, only one sign is used to represent the unit. Each number is written using such signs, the number of which is equal to this number. For example, if such a sign is the letter "A", then the number five can be written as five letters A in a row. The unary system is often used by teachers teaching children to count because it helps children understand the relationship between the number of objects, such as counting sticks or pencils, and the more abstract concept of number. Often the unary system is used during games to record the points scored by teams, or to count days or items. In addition to simple counting and accounting, the unary system is also used in computer technology and electronics. Moreover, the method of recording in different cultures is different. For example, in many countries of Europe and America, four vertical lines are usually written one after another, which, at the expense of “five”, are crossed out with a horizontal or diagonal line, and continue counting from a new group of lines. Here the count goes up to four, after which these dashes are crossed out by the fifth. Then five more dashes are added, and again a new row begins. In countries where Chinese characters are used or used in the language, for example, in China, Japan and Korea, people usually draw not four dashes crossed out with a fifth, but a special character, but also of five strokes. The sequence of these strokes is not arbitrary, but is established by the rules of spelling of hieroglyphs. In our example, the count reaches five and the person writes the first two strokes of the next hieroglyph, ending the count with seven. Now we will consider positional number systems. In positional number systems, the meaning of each character denoting a digit depends on its position in the number. The position is usually called the discharge. This value also depends on the base of the number system. For example, the number 101 in binary is not equal to one hundred and one in decimal. Consider the positional number system using the example of decimal: The first digit is for units, that is, numbers from zero to nine. The number of the first digit is multiplied by ten to the zero power, that is, by one. The second digit is for tens and the number in the second digit is multiplied by ten to the first power, that is, 10. The third digit is for hundreds, and the digit in the third digit is multiplied by ten to the second power, and so on, until the digits run out. To get the value of a number, let's add all the numbers obtained above, that is, the values ​​of the numbers in each digit. This way of writing numbers allows you to work with large numbers. Numbers do not take up as much space in the text as compared to non-positional number systems. The binary system is widely used in mathematics and computing. All possible numbers are represented in it with just two digits, "0" and "1", although in some cases other signs are used, for example, "+", "-". Numbers in the binary system are represented as binary zeros and ones. To represent numbers greater than one, the rules of addition are used. Addition in binary is based on the same principle as in decimal. To add one to a number, the following rule is used: For numbers ending in zero, this last zero is replaced by one. For example, let's add 1-0-0, which is 4 in decimal, and 1, which is 1 in decimal. We get 1-0-1, that is, 5. Here and below, for comparison, examples are given with the same numbers in the decimal system. In a number ending in one, but not consisting only of ones, replace the first zero on the right with one. All units following it, that is, to the right of it, are replaced by zeros. Add 1-0-1-1 which is 11 and 1 which is 1 in decimal. We get 1-1-0-0. In a number consisting of only ones, all units are replaced with zeros, and at the beginning, that is, on the left, one is added. For example, let's add 1-1-1, that is, 7 and 1. We get 1-0-0-0, that is, 8. It should be noted that arithmetic operations in the binary system are done in exactly the same way as the usual operations in a column in the decimal system, with the only the difference is that 2 is used instead of 10. When adding, write both numbers one under the other, as in decimal addition. The rules are as follows: 0+0=0 1+0=1 1+1=10. In this case, a 0 is written in the right digit and a 1 is transferred to the next digit. Now let's try to add 1-1-1-1-1 and 1-0-1-1. When adding in a column from right to left, we get: 1+1=0, and we transfer the unit to the next digit 1+1+1=1, and we transfer the unit to the next digit 1+1=0, we transfer the unit to the next digit 1+1+1 =1, and again we transfer the unit to the next digit 1+1=10 That is, we get 1-0-1-0-1-0. Subtraction is similar to addition, only instead of transferring, on the contrary, they “occupy” one from the higher digits. Multiplication is also similar to decimal. The result of multiplying two ones is one, and multiplying by zero gives zero. If you look closely, you can see that all operations are reduced to addition and shifts. This feature of the binary system is widely used in computer systems. Dividing and taking the square root also differs little from working with decimal numbers. Numbers are grouped into classes, and some numbers can belong to more than one class at the same time. Negative numbers indicate a negative value. They are preceded by a minus sign to distinguish them from positive ones. For example, if a person owes fifty thousand rubles to the bank that issued the credit card, then he has −50,000 rubles. Here –50000 is a negative number. Natural numbers are zero and positive integers. For example, 7 and 86766 are natural numbers. Integers are zero, negative and positive numbers that are not fractions. For example, −65 and 11223 are integers. Rational numbers are those numbers that can be represented as a fraction, where the denominator is a positive natural number and the numerator is an integer. For example, 3/4 or −10/5, that is, −2, are rational numbers. Complex numbers are obtained by adding a real, that is, not a complex number, and another real number multiplied by the imaginary unit i, for which the equality i ^ 2 = -1 is satisfied. That is, a complex number is a number of the form a + bi. Here a is the real part of the complex number and b is its imaginary part. It is worth noting here that in electrical engineering, the letter j is used instead of i, since the letter I denotes current - so that there is no confusion. Prime numbers are natural numbers greater than one that are only divisible without remainder by one and themselves. Examples of prime numbers are: 3, 5, and 11. 2^57,885,161−1 is the largest prime number known as of February 2013. It contains 17,425,170 digits. Prime numbers are used in public key cryptosystems. This type of encryption is used in the encryption of electronic information in cases where it is necessary to ensure information security, for example, on the websites of online stores, electronic wallets and banks. Now let's talk about some interesting features of numbers. China uses a separate form for writing numbers for business and financial transactions. The usual hieroglyphs used for naming numbers are too simple. They are easy to forge or remake by changing their denomination if you add just a few touches to them. Therefore, special more complex hieroglyphs are usually used on bank checks and other financial documents. In the languages ​​of countries where the decimal number system is adopted, there are still words that indicate that a system with a different base was previously used there. For example, in English, the word "dozen" (dozen), which means twelve, is still used. In many English-speaking countries, eggs, flour products, wine and flowers are counted and sold in dozens. And the Khmer language has words for counting fruits based on the vigesimal system. In the West, as well as in many Christian countries, 13 is considered an unlucky number. Historians believe that it is associated with Christianity and Judaism. According to the Bible, exactly thirteen disciples of Jesus were present at the Last Supper, and the thirteenth, Judas, later betrayed Christ. The Vikings also had a belief that when thirteen people get together, one of them is bound to die the following year. In countries where Russian is spoken, even numbers are considered unlucky. This is probably due to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, who believed that even numbers are static, motionless, and therefore dead. Odd ones, on the contrary, are mobile, looking for additions, changing, which means they are alive. Therefore, an even number of flowers is brought only to funerals, but not to living people. In the Western world, on the contrary, it is quite normal to give an even number, and flowers are often counted in dozens. In China, Korea and Japan they do not like the number 4, because it is consonant with the word "death". Often, not only the number four itself is avoided, but also the numbers containing it. For example, 4, 14, 24, and other similar numbers are often missed in the numbering of floors and apartments. In China, the number 7 is also disliked, due to the fact that the seventh month in the Chinese calendar is the month of spirits. It is believed that in this month the border between the world of people and the world of spirits disappears, and spirits come to visit people. The number 9 is considered unlucky in Japan, as it is consonant with the word "suffering". An unlucky number in Italy is 17 because its spelling in Roman numerals can be rewritten as "VIXI" by changing the order of the letters. Often this phrase was written on the graves of the ancient Romans and meant "I lived", therefore it is associated with the end of life and death. 666 is an unlucky number known to many, also called the "number of the beast" in the Bible. Some believe that in fact the "number of the beast" is 616, but the mention of 666 is more common. Many believe that this number will denote the Antichrist, that is, the vicar of the devil. Therefore, sometimes this number is associated with the devil himself. The origin of this number is unknown, but some are convinced that 666 and 616 are the ciphered name of the Roman emperor Nero in Hebrew and Latin, respectively, expressed in numbers. Such a possibility does exist, since Nero is known for persecuting Christians and for his bloody rule. Some historians even believe that it was Nero who initiated the great fire of Rome, although many historians do not agree with this interpretation of events. Thank you for your attention! If you liked this video, please don't forget to subscribe to our channel!

Russian cursive, charter, half charter

W Do you know that in 1700 the numbers on the territory of the Russian state were indicated by letters (cursive script of the 17th century)?

According to the omniscient Wikipedia, Arabic numerals were introduced in Russia after the first trip abroad of Peter I, when in 1698 he brought naval officers from London. One of the officers was Fergarson, who is believed to have introduced Arabic numerals to Russia. But in fact, they came to Russia long before Peter, in 1647 in Moscow, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a Russian military charter was printed, in which Arabic numerals were used. Books printed in Russian outside of Russia contained Arabic numerals from the beginning of the 16th century. At the same time, Slavic numbering was used in the text, and Arabic numbering was used for calculations.

The order of numbering corresponded to the order of letters in the Cyrillic alphabet. When designating numbers more than ten, the letters were arranged in accordance with the principle: "as we hear, so we write." For example: eleven (one in ten) will be designated as AI, while A=1, I=10. The number 22 was designated as KV, where K=20, B=2.

Here are some cardinal numbers:

In order to separate letters denoting numbers, a title (dash above the letters) was used.

Here is an example of deciphering a date from a coin:

The letters on the left with the title (P (rtsy) = 100, Ѯ (xi) = 60) indicate 160, this is 7160 from the creation of the world *.

To translate into modern chronology (from the Nativity of Christ), you need to subtract 5508/09. That is, we get 7160-5508 = 1652.

An interesting feature of ultraviolet light: it helps to distinguish ink that has faded over time. Some archive visitors use miniature ultraviolet lights, for example.

Looking at the bizarre signs, you will not immediately understand what the ancient numbers and numbers symbolize. Bags of cereals, tools. In tailed, curved signs, the mentality of the ancient people, their level of development, skills, and economic situation are read. The designations of numbers are woven from deep abstractions and artistic ideas about the world. The birth of numbers is inextricably linked with the emergence of writing, but the knotted writing of the Sumerian peoples appeared even earlier. It was created for the account. What does it say? Knowing how to count was important in the 2nd century. BC, and in the high-tech twenty-first century.

Numbers and business are in strong tandem. Numbers are needed to establish and promote a business (to calculate profitability, calculate conversion, efficiency), and a business is needed for good numbers in a bank account. Counting has become an integral part of human thinking and has become so ingrained in everyday life that we don't even notice it. An entrepreneur must not only see, count and assume numbers, but read them. Contemplate not with the eyes, but with the mind.

Numbers and numbers are different concepts. In everyday life, we confuse them, but the essential difference in the essence of the words did not disappear from this. The number is used to symbolize the number. The number expresses a quantitative characteristic in numbers, and is a more generalized concept.

If you analyze what the first numbers were, you can see the extensive history of the culture of a particular people. Drawing up notation for numbers required a higher intellectual level. Therefore, our ancestors left thousands of notches on hard materials. As many as required. So, naively, but authentically, ancient reporting documents, “checks”, etc. were filled out. The first digits were primitive serifs and icons.

An example of ancient numbers and figures

The genesis of numbers will remain an unexplored Mariana Trench for scientists. The ornate history of origin is confusing. It is known for sure that the first attempts to record numbers in writing were in Egypt and Mesopotamia: the ancient mathematical records found are evidence of this. These states were located far from each other, writing and culture in each of them is unique.

Cursive hieroglyphic writing was formed in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamian scribes used cuneiform writing. Therefore, the Egyptian first digits conveyed the nature of all surrounding objects with their form: animals, plants, household items, etc. Papyrus Rinda (1650 BC) and Papyrus Golenishchev (1850 BC) - numerical ancient Egyptian documents - testify to the high cultural development people. Mesopotamian cuneiform writing is recorded on clay tablets, on which the numbers are represented by small wedges turned in different directions according to their meaning.

Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian number systems have numbers from 1 to 10, special marks for tens, hundreds and thousands, and zero, which was indicated by a dedicated empty space.

The numbers of ancient Egypt are built correctly and logically. Rationalism and clarity distinguish these number systems from similar attempts by other peoples. Numbers less than ten were denoted by ׀. For example, the number 6 looked like ׀׀׀׀׀׀. The number 10 was denoted by an inverted horseshoe in the hieroglyphic system and a special symbol in the hieratic one. How many tens in number, so many "horseshoes". The hieratic writing system assumed for each number, a dozen higher than the previous one, a separate character. Starting from 100, it was a stylized club, over which, with each new hundred, a tiny mark was placed.

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In hieroglyphs, everything is easier. The number 100 looked almost like the Arabic numeral 9, but the Egyptians called it a lotus. Further, everything is similar - 200 - 2 "lotuses", 300 - 3, etc.

Egyptian numbers and numerals

Have you noticed that in ancient Egypt, a decimal system was formed from the very beginning? However, Mesopotamia still surpassed Egypt when Babylon gained independence and rose on its territory. A separate culture grew up there, nourished by the achievements of neighboring conquered states.

Reaching for Babylon

The numbers of ancient Babylon differed little from the Mesopotamian ones: the same wedge-shaped signs served to designate units - ˅, and tens - ˃. The combination of these signs was used to designate the numbers 11-59. The number 60 in the letter looked like a mirror image of the letter "G". 70 - Г˃, 80 - Г˃˃ and so on, the principle is clear, the cuneiform is not distinguished by genius.

Babylonian number system

The main value lies in the fact that the same sign - pay attention - depending on where it is located in the number entry, has a different meaning. We are talking about the local placement of signs in the number system. The same wedge-shaped signs indicated in different categories have different significance. Therefore, the Babylonian number system with zero is usually called positional. Mathematicians can argue with this, because not a single source has been found in which zero would be located at the end of a numerical notation, which indicates relative positionality.

The Babylonian system became a kind of springboard from which humanity made a leap to a new stage of its development. The idea eventually fell into the hands of the Indians. They made their own adjustments, improving the number system. The idea was adopted by Italian merchants who brought it to Europe along with the goods. The positional number system has spread all over the world, enriching with its appearance not only mathematical sciences, but also modern counting.

Do you know where the division of an hour into 60 minutes and minutes into 60 seconds came from? From the sexagesimal number system discussed above. Take a look at how the ancient Babylonians denoted numbers, and in wedge-shaped icons you will see sacred meaning modern, familiar to all reckoning.

The history of numbers of different peoples

Figures of ancient Greece

Under the galaxy of legendary ancient mathematicians and philosophers, two number systems were formed. Each of them brought its own advantages, but they were not discovered or finalized due to political and cultural changes.

The Attic system could be called decimal if the number 5 had not been highlighted in it. The Attic notation of numbers used repetitions of collective symbols, which was reminiscent of the Mesopotamian method. The unit was denoted by a line written the required number of times. In this way, numbers up to 4 were written. The number 5 was under the first letter of the word "penta", 10 - under the first letter of the word "deca" ("ten"), etc.

History of numbers and figures:

The alphabetic (or Ionic) system reached its peak in the run-up to the Alexandrian era. In fact, it combined the decimal number system and the ancient Babylonian way of positioning. The numbers were written in letters and dashes. The number system is quite promising, but the Greeks, with their fanatical desire for perfection, never brought it to mind. Trying to achieve maximum rigor and clarity in numerical records, mathematicians have made significant difficulties in working with it.

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Easily recognizable, clear, strict and clear designations became a very successful invention of the Romans. Passing through the centuries, the symbols remained practically unchanged also because Rome enjoyed influence in the ancient state arena. He also adopted some cultural characteristics from the conquered peoples. The alphabetical designation of numbers is striking - the main "highlight" of the Attic system. The number V (5) is a prototype of a palm with five fingers open. Therefore, X (10) - two palms. Units were indicated with chopsticks, and capital letters of the alphabet were used for hundreds and thousands.

Numbers and numerals of ancient Rome

Figures of ancient China

The system of complex, abstract hieroglyphs, into which innocent notches on fortune-telling bones have turned, is rarely used. However, hieroglyphs are used for formal records, and a simplified character set is used in everyday life.

Numbers in ancient Russia

Oddly enough, Russia repeated the alphabetical number system. Each figure was named according to its rank letter of the alphabet. The number 1 looked like "A", 2 - "B", 3 - "C", etc. Dozens and hundreds were also signed with the corresponding letters of the Slavic alphabet. In order not to confuse words with numbers in the text, a title was drawn over the numerical entries - a horizontal wavy line.

numbers and figures of ancient Russia

ancient indian numerals

No matter how much scientists argue, no matter how many changes the shape of the numbers undergoes, the emergence of Arabic, “our” numbers is attributed to ancient India. Perhaps the Arabs borrowed the ancient Indian number system or invented it themselves. The reason for scientific ordeals was the fundamental mathematical work of Al-Khwarizmi "On the Indian Account". The book became a kind of "advertising" of the decimal positional system. How else can one explain the introduction of the Indian number system throughout the territory of the Caliphate?

The usefulness of the positional system was strengthened by the emergence of "zero". In general, the notation of numbers did not go far from the Attic: for the numbers 5, 10, 20 ... collective symbols were used, repeating the required number of times.

With this approach, Arabic numerals could not “grow” from ancient Indian numerals. This statement seems logical at first glance, but the history of numbers is mysterious, and demonstrates the innocence of ancient India in the emergence of familiar symbols.

The most common number systems

Arabic numerals significantly saved time and materials for writing. One Arab scholar suggested that a number be denoted by a symbol with a certain number of angles. The number of corners must equal the value of the digit. For example, "0" - "nothing", no corners; 1 - 1 corner; 2 - 2 corners, etc. The word "figure" is also borrowed from the Arabic languages, where it sounded like "syfr", and meant "nothing", "emptiness". "Syfr" had a synonym - "shunya". For centuries, "0" was called that. Until the Latin “nullum” (“nothing”) appeared, as we call “zero”.

The modern version of the symbolic designation of numbers is expressed by smooth, rounded lines. This is the result of evolution. In its original form, the designations are angular. Time is indeed capable of smoothing corners - literally and figuratively. It does not matter where the history of the emergence of numbers originates from, most importantly, they have become the property of the whole world. Numbers are easy to write and remember, which facilitates semantic perception. After all, before you is not a long string of squiggles and letters.

Despite the fact that Latin is called a "dead" language, its importance in the scientific field is confirmed by studies in universities. Latin numerals have also found application in document management, business management, design scientific works. Accessibility, understandability and clarity made them regulars in textbooks and essays.

Units, tens and hundreds

Examples of writing numbers in Cyrillic
Most of the letters of the Old Russian alphabet had a numerical correspondence. So, the letter "Az" meant "one", "Lead" - "two" ... Some letters did not have numerical correspondences. Numbers were written and pronounced from left to right, with the exception of numbers from 11 to 19 (for example, 17 - seven-twenty).
According to the same principle, the Glagolitic number system was built, in which the Glagolitic letters were used.
At the beginning of the 18th century, a mixed numbering system was sometimes used, consisting of both Cyrillic and Arabic numerals. For example, the date 17K1 (1721) is minted on some copper kopecks.
Table of correspondence between letters and numbers
The Cyrillic number system reproduces the Greek one almost letter by letter. In the Glagolitic alphabet, those letters that are absent in Greek (beeches, live, etc.) also have digital meanings.

thousands


To denote thousands, to the left of the corresponding letter-number, a small diagonal was written down to the left and on it were two small dashes -҂.
Tens and hundreds of thousands, millions
Large numbers (tens and hundreds of thousands, millions and billions) could be expressed not through the “҂” sign, but with a specially circled letter used to denote units. However, for big numbers these designations were rather unstable.

Darkness = 10000

To denote darkness, the letter was surrounded by a solid circle.
Small account - ten thousand or one hundred thousand;
The great score is a million (great darkness).
Dark themes:
Small account - one hundred thousand;
The great score is a million million (great darkness).
In a small account, the number served as the last limit of the natural (correlated with any activity) account. The dark darkness is an infinite number, an incalculable multitude.
From the word darkness came the military rank of temnik - a major military leader. Temnik was, for example, Mamai.
Similar names are tumen and myriad.

Legion (ignorant)=10 to 12 degree

To designate a legion (ignorance), the letter was circled from dots or dashes (dotted line).
Small account - one hundred thousand;
Great score - a million million

Leodr=10 to 24 degree


To designate a leodre, the letter was circled with dashes.
Small account - one million;
The great score is a legion of legions.
Vran (raven)=10 to the power of 48

To designate a vran (crow), the letter was circled with crosses or commas.
Small account - ten million;
Great score - leodr of leodrov.
Deck=10 to 49 degrees
The largest number is the deck. The letter was enclosed in square brackets, but not on the right and left, as in ordinary letters, but on top and bottom. Plus, two diamonds were placed on the right and left. And there was no more of this number.
Small account - one hundred million;
The great count is ten ravens.