Facts on the development of the number system

Life without numbers
It is believed that the early shepherds would call their sheep by name in order to determine if any of them were missing. There were no number names at first; so counters were used. For counters man used sticks or his fingers .The early shepherd learned that, instead of calling his sheep by name , he could lay aside a pebble for each sheep as he led them to the corral for the night and thus learned if any one of them had been lost.

Archimedes
The greatest mathematicians of recorded history was the Greek Archimedes who developed a dynamic mathematics which could be applied to the laws of nature.

Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes represented number pairs by points. This creation made possible the great advance in science and mathematics during the eighteenth century.

Isaac Newton
Newton was one of the inventors of the calculus which is now studied by college students who are seriously interested in mathematics or physical science.

Base of our number-system
Our number-system uses only the symbols 0, 1, ... 9; it has base ten. Ten is
probably the base because we have ten fingers It is not known when or by whom zero was invented.