Now did the system of counting begin?
The cave man used, his fingers, or toes for counting. The word ‘digit’ is derived from the Latin word digitus meaning finger. I Since we have 10 fingers, the use of fingers led to a system of counting built on base 10. With the time, new counting tools like stone, tally marks, knots on ropes, notches on sticks came up.
Then came the counting machine called ‘Abacus’ which was first used by ancient Greeks and Romans. It consists of a row of beads strung on wires — those on the first wire represent ones, on second wire represent tens and on third wire represent hundreds and so on. Later on the Romans introduced ‘Roman System of Numeration’ which was widely used by the people of Europe till the 16th century. But since it was a complex system, it was soon replaced by the ‘Hindu Arabic System of Numeration’
which uses nine digits viz. 1. 2, 3. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 9 and 0 to write the numbers. This system is also built on the base 10.
