Who discovered numbers?

Answer 1

Virtually every culture in the ancient world has "invented" numerals at one time or another; a means of recording tallys or for computational purposes. However, the Chinese and the Indians were the greatest influences. The Hindu-Arabic numerals form the basis of our Latin numerals, and gave us the decimal system.

Roman numerals didn't come into being until the 4th century BC, however the system we use today didn't come into being until sometime in the early 1st century AD. Given it's lack of notational positioning (it appears to derive from a tallying system rather than from any mathematical basis), it's hard to imagine how it lasted in common use until the 14th century before being replaced by the Arabic system. Positional numbering systems were in use around 1,500 BC by Babylonian mathematicians, albeit as a sophisticated sexagesimal (base-60). I don't know of anything that precedes that, but there were undoubtedly tally methods developed as soon as man discovered the concept of recording a count. How these tallys were actually recorded is largely unknown, but even early cave paintings demonstrate early humans had some notion of quantity, even if the recordings of those quantities might have been somewhat exaggerated.

Answer 2

The below answer is incorrect as numbers were in use long before Einstein was even born.

Numbers were not discovered because they are not matter nor fact, they are a concept that represent something real. A caveman may have discovered numbers while for example looking for something to eat. Let's imagine he finds 3 fallen apples on the floor and decides to conceptually understand how many there are in order to be more efficient, he understands that his two fellow cavemen are hungry and also understands that he has enough apples to feed them all. I am fairly certain however that the first humans to use numbers did not, right then and there, name them (one, two, three...) nor did they invent ways or representing them visually (1, 2, 3...), they simply discovered a concept that has been used ever since.

AnswerAlbert Einstein

Answer 3

Strictly speaking we should refer to Roman numerals as Etruscan numerals because it was the Etruscans who conceived the idea of numerals in the first place. The Etruscans once ruled the Romans and the Romans copied their counting system off them with modifications.

Answer 4

Roman numerals were conceived by the Etruscans who once ruled the Romans.

Answer 5

It was the Mayas.