2.

0 Ancient ways in representing number

Human invented many different ways in recording number .The first method of
counting was counting on fingers. By placing the thumb on various finger joints a
person can count up to 90,000. This evolved into sign language for hand-to-eye
communication of numbers. But this was not writing. Other than that , the ancient way
in representing number also occur in America which is they used tallies by carving
notches in wood, bone, and stone were used for at least forty thousand years. Stone
age cultures, including ancient American Indian groups, used tallies for gambling
with horses, slaves, personal services and trade-goods.

After that , Roman Numerals evolved from this primitive system of cutting notches.
The V for five was cut as two notches to represent a person's hand of five fingers
(four fingers separated from the thumb by a V shaped gap). The X for ten was cut as
two crossed notches to represent two hands.

Another ancient writing to record number is using small clay token. In this system,
when they wanted to represent “two sheep”, they will selected two round clay tokens
each having a sign baked into it . Each token represented one sheep. Representing
a hundred sheep with a hundred tokens would be impractical, so they invented
different clay tokens to represent different numbers of each specific commodity, and
strung the tokens like beads on a string. There was a token for one sheep, a
different token for ten sheep, a different token for ten goats, etc. Thirty-two sheep
would be represented by three ten-sheep tokens followed on the string by two sheep
tokens. To ensure that nobody could alter the number and type of tokens, they
invented a clay envelope shaped like a hollow ball into which the tokens on a string
were placed, sealed, and baked. If anybody disputed the number, they could break
open the clay envelope and do a recount. To avoid unnecessary damage to the
record, they pressed archaic number signs and witness seals on the outside of the
envelope before it was baked, each sign similar in shape to the tokens they
represented. Since there was seldom any need to break open the envelope, the
signs on the outside became the first written language for writing numbers in clay.
Beginning about 3500 BC the tokens and envelopes were replaced by numerals
impressed with a round stylus at different angles in flat clay tablets which were then
baked. A sharp stylus was used to carve pictographs representing various tokens.
Each sign represented both the commodity being counted and the quantity or
volume of that commodity.

About 3100 BC written numbers were dissociated from the things being counted and
abstract numerals were invented. The things being counted were indicated by
pictographs carved with a sharp stylus next to round-stylus numerals. The
Sumerians had a complex assortment of incompatible number systems and each
city had their own local way of writing numerals. In the city of Uruk about 3100 BC,
there were more than a dozen different numeric systems.

One number system was used for counting discrete objects such as animals, tools,
and containers. A different system was for counting cheese and grain products.
Another system was used to count volumes of grain and included fractions. Another
system counted beer ingredients. Another system counted weights. Another system
counted land areas. Another system counted time units and calendar units. And
these systems changed over the years. Numbers for counting volumes of grain
changed whenever the size of the baskets changed. People who added and
subtracted volumes of grain every day used their arithmetic skills to count other
things that were unrelated to volume measurements.
The Sumerians invented the wheel and also invented arithmetic. Multiplication and
division were done with multiplication tables baked in clay tablets.

The conclusion is, human have been worked so creative to record and representing
number. We from the new generation must appreciate the knowledge from them and
make them as example because of them we can calculate and record the number in
easiest and faster way. Their determination to create many formulas to solving a
problem has been make our world today modern because of their formula has been
used for many kind technology.
3.0 DESCRIPTIONS ON EACH OF SYSTEMS OF NUMERATIONS

3.1 The Egyptian Number System

1. The Egyptians had three systems of writing, the hieroglyphic, the hieratic, and the
demotic writings.
2. The hieroglyphic system was the sacred writing reserved for formal inscriptions and
was usually used for writing on stone.
3. Numbers were seldom used in this system. Hieroglyphics were too complex for
everyday use and this led to the development of a simpler system, hieratic or temple
writing.
4. This was used by priests and scribes for everyday records and was mostly used for
writing on papyrus. Demotic writing developed from hieratic writing and was the
system of writing used in everyday life.
5. Egyptian numbers were written from right to left. They started at one and went up to
a million.
6. The numbers one to nine were written as combinations of vertical strokes, ten was
represented by a sign that looks like an upturned U, 100 by a coil of rope, 1000 by a
sign representing a lotus flower, 10,000 by a vertical finger, 100,000 by a tadpole,
and 1 million by a man with upraised arms (see Diagram 1).

Diagram 1: The Egyptian Numbers

7. How do we know what the Egyptian language of numbers is? It has been found on
the writings on the stones of monument walls of ancient time. Numbers have also
been found on pottery, limestone plaques, and on the fragile fibers of the papyrus.
 The language is composed of heiroglyphs, pictorial signs that represent people,
animals, plants, and numbers.
8. The Egyptians used a written numeration that was changed into hieroglyphic writing,
which enabled them to note whole numbers to 1,000,000.
9. It had a decimal base and allowed for the additive principle. In this notation there
was a special sign for every power of ten. For I, a vertical line; for 10, a sign with the
shape of an upside down U; for 100, a spiral rope; for 1000, a lotus blossom; for
10,000, a raised finger, slightly bent; for 100,000, a tadpole; and for 1,000,000, a
kneeling genie with upraised arms.
Decimal Egyptian
Number Symbol
1= staff

10 = heel bone

100 = coil of rope

1000 = lotus flower

10,000 = pointing finger

100,000 = tadpole

1,000,000 = astonished man

10. This hieroglyphic numeration was a written version of a concrete counting system
using material objects. To represent a number, the sign for each decimal order was
repeated as many times as necessary.
11. To make it easier to read the repeated signs they were placed in groups of two,
three, or four and arranged vertically.

Example 1.
1= 10 = 100 = 1000 =

2= 20 = 200 = 2000 =

3= 30 = 300 = 3000 =

4= 40 = 400 = 4000 =

5= 50 = 500 = 5000 =

In writing the numbers, the largest decimal order would be written first. The numbers
were written from right to left.
Number
System

Egyptian Babylonian Hindu -

Mayan
s s Arabic

Charact
eristic

Definition It was It used The numerals The system is

a decimal a sexagesimal are made up of based on ten
system, (base-60) three (originally nine)
often positional num symbols; zero ( different glyphs.
rounded off eral shell The symbols
to the system inherit shape), one (a (glyphs) used to
higher ed from dot) and five (a represent the
power, the Sumerian bar). For system are in
written and example, ninet principle
in hieroglyp also Akkadian een (19) is independent of
hs. civilizations. written as four the system
The hieratic Neither of the dots in a itself. The
form of predecessors horizontal row glyphs in actual
numerals was a above three use are
stressed an positional horizontal lines descended from
exact finite system stacked upon Indian Brahmi
series (having a each other. numerals, and
notation, convention for have split into
 ciphered which ‘end’ of various
one to one the numeral typographical
onto the represented variants since
Egyptian the units). the Middle
alphabet. Ages.
The Ancient
Egyptian
system
used bases
of ten.

Symbol
٤٥٦௧௨௩ ๑
௭

Background The system The The Pre- It is

of Ancient Babylonian Columbian Ma a positional deci
Egyptian civilization in ya mal numeral
numerals Mesopotamia civilization use system develop
was used in replaced the d ed by the 9th
Ancient Sumerian a vigesimal (ba century by
Egypt until civilization and se twenty) Hindu and
 the early the Akkadian numeral Indian
first civilization system Mathematicians,
millennium adopted
AD. byPersian (Al-
Khwarizmi's
circa 825 CE
book On the
Calculation with
Hindu
Numerals)
and Arabic
mathematicians
(Al-Kindi's circa
830 CE
volumes On the
Use of the
Indian
Numerals), and
spread to the
western world
by the latter by
the High Middle
Ages.

4.0 THE ADVANTAGES OF THE HINDU-ARABIC NUMERATION SYSTEM

The Hindu–Arabic numeral system is designed for positional notation in a decimal
system

In the Arab World—until modern times—the Hindu–Arabic numeral system was used
only by mathematicians. Muslim scientists used the Babylonian numeral system, and
merchants used the Abjad numerals, a system similar to the Greek numeral system and
the Hebrew numeral system.

Produce a new model of abacus, the so called Abacus of Gerbert, by adopting tokens
representing Hindu-Arab numerals, from one to nine.

The perfected positional system is so numerous and so manifest that the Hindu-Arabic
numerals and the base 10 have been adopted almost everywhere. These might be said
to be the nearest approach to a universal human language yet devised; they are found
in Chinese, Japanese, and Russian scientific journals and in every Western language.

The Arabic numeral system also uses a decimal marker (at first a mark over the ones
digit but now more usually a decimal point or a decimal comma which separates the
ones place from the tenths place), and also a symbol for “these digits repeat ad
infinitum” (recur).

The latter symbol is usually a vinculum (a horizontal line placed over the repeating
digits); the need for it can be removed by representing fractions as simple ratios with a
division sign.

The Arabic numeral system can symbolize any rational number using only 13 symbols
(the ten digits, decimal marker, vinculum or division sign, and an optional prep ended
dash to indicate a negative number).

In Japan, Arabic numerals and the Roman alphabet are both used under the name of
rōmaji. So, if a number is written in Arabic numerals, they would say “it is written in
rōmaji” (as opposed to Japanese numerals). This translates as ‘Roman characters’, and
may sound confusing for those who know about Roman numerals.

5.0 Problem Solving

1. At one shopping complex, there is a sale going on, where every item is
discounted at the rate from 20-70 % per item. Ali bought a watch at the price of RM
135.90 after discount. The discount of the watch is 35 %. What is actual price of the
watch before discounted?

Work done:

Price after discount: RM 135.90

Discount: 35 %

Price before discount: ?

35/100 x 135.90

= 7/2 x 135.9

= 7 x 67.95

= 475.65 = RM475.65

2. Ali then bought 6 other items total RM 205.50 and the discount for the items are
approximately 25 % each. What is actual total price of the items that Ali bought?

Discounted price (total): RM 205.50

Rate of discount: 25 %

Price before discount (total): ?

25(6)/100 x 205.50

= 150/100 x 205.50

= 15 x 205.5

= 3082.50 = RM3082.50
3. What is the total percentage of money spent by Ali for all the things he bought?

Watch = RM 475.65

6 items = RM 3082.50

Total spent = RM 3558.15

Watch percentage = 475.65/3558.15 x 100

= 12.24 %

6 items percentage = 3082.50/3558.15 x 100

= 86.63 %

Total percentage = 12.24 + 86.63

= 98.87 %