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Why did the ancient Greek numeral system use 24 letters? What is the secret behind this?
The Ancient Greek numeral system, also known as Ionic numerals or Alexandrian numerals, uses the Greek alphabet to write numbers. This system is still used in modern Greece to indicate ordinal numbers, and in certain contexts, just as Roman numerals are still used in the Western world. Although modern Greek cardinal numbers have adopted Arabic numerals, the history and operation of the ancient Greek number system are of great significance.
The formation and evolution of the Greek numeral system is the result of thousands of years of civilization. The 24 letters used in the system carry the wisdom and culture of ancient people’s oral calculation.
History of Number Systems
The origins of this number system can be traced back to the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, when they used Linear A and B scripts that included different number systems, but they were not written in the form of letters. Before the advent of the Amazon numbering system, Greek record keeping was relatively crude.
The development of ancient Greek numerals
The emergence of the ancient Greek numerical system played an important role in promoting the development of commerce and science at that time. The Attic numeral system first appeared around the 7th century BC, using the first letters of the alphabet as number symbols.
In later times, the current Greek numeral system matured in Miletus around the 5th century BC. Although classical scholars in the 19th century pointed out that its development was in the 3rd century BC, modern excavations have shown that this system may have existed as early as the 5th century BC.
The ancient Greek numerical system is not only a way of writing numbers, but also a symbol of culture, demonstrating the advancement of the ancient Greeks in mathematics and record-keeping.
The association between letters and numbers
The Greek number system works in a rather interesting way, it is based on the principle of the decimal system. The numbers 1 to 9 are represented by the first nine letters of the Greek alphabet, and then each number from 10 to 90 is assigned a letter from the 10th to the 18th. The same is true for numbers from 100 to 900.
This system relies on the principle of addition; when numbers need to be combined, the values of the individual letters are added together to obtain the final result. For example, the number 241 can be expressed as 200 + 40 + 1, which is βδα.
Not only is this representation of numbers numerically intuitive, it also has a huge influence in most cultures.
Fractions and special numbers in ancient Greek numbers
In ancient Greece, fractions were expressed in a special way, with a symbol called keraia following the denominator to distinguish them. For example, γʹ means one-third and δʹ means one-quarter. Some symbols, such as the special symbol ∠ʹ representing half, show the further thinking and development of the ancient Greeks in mathematics.
The combination of culture and digital: Isopsephy
A special application of the Greek number system is called isopsephy, which adds the numerical values of the letters in a word or phrase to establish a connection between the meanings of the words. This practice has similarities to number systems of other cultures, such as the Hebrew gematria.
The Evolution of Digital
As history progressed, the ancient Greek numeral system also underwent changes in shape and writing methods. During the Renaissance, scholars increasingly used numbers for scientific calculations, prompting a reform of how numbers were represented. The various numbers also changed over time, for example, during the Tithe period, new forms of representation for the number 10 began to appear, which in turn influenced the development of the modern number system.
The collision of ideas and the exchange of cultures have enabled digital systems to continue to evolve, a process that is an important part of the progress of human civilization. What inspiration and reference does this ancient numerical system provide for the development of modern numbers?
