The History of Counting

Counting is one of the oldest human skills. Even before people could write, they counted things. They used their fingers, stones, and marks scratched into bones. Over thousands of years, counting grew into the math we know today.

The First Counting

The earliest counting probably used fingers and toes. That is why many number systems are based on 10 or 20. People also made marks on bones and sticks to keep track of things.

A bone found in Africa has scratch marks that might be tally marks from over 20,000 years ago. It could be one of the oldest math tools ever found.

Number Systems Develop

As civilizations grew, people needed better ways to count. The ancient Sumerians created one of the first written number systems about 5,000 years ago. They pressed shapes into clay tablets.

Different cultures invented different systems. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Maya all had their own way of writing numbers. Eventually, the Hindu-Arabic system we use today, with digits 0 through 9, became the most popular.

Fun Facts

• The Ishango bone from Africa has tally marks that are about 20,000 years old.
• Some languages have no words for numbers bigger than 5.
• The base-10 system became popular because humans have 10 fingers.

Did You Know?

The Sumerian counting system was based on 60, not 10. That is why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour!