How many numbers are there in the world?

Answer 1

There is an infinite (infinite meaning there is no end) amount of numbers in the world!

Suppose that you were to list all the numbers in the world in order, all I would have to do is add 1 to the largest number on that list to get a number that you have not included, but is in the world. However, until I wrote it down, it could be said to not exist in the world!

For people who want to claim that there are only 10 "numbers", the digits 0-9, I have to point out that the world includes more than just the modern West and that in doing so they are excluding other number systems which are also in the world, even if not currently "in use" - engravings, etc can be found using them:

For example the Greeks and Hebrews used their alphabets using the first 9 letters for 1-9, then the next 9 letters for 10-90, etc, Roman numerals are still used in some places and that uses 7 "digits" (I, V, X, L, C, D, M) - in all these cases numbers are written using multiple letters whole values are added together.

And then there are other bases, for example hexadecimal is base 16 and uses the 16 digits 0-9, A-F. Technically time of a day is measured (in seconds since midnight) using sexagesimal, base 60, but to avoid the problems of finding 50 different symbols for the digits beyond 0-9, the digits are written using decimal but separated by a colon as opposed to just being written next to each other. (IPv4 internet addresses are actually a base 256 number with each digit written in decimal separated by a dot.)

The Babylonians, who used the sexagesimal system, used blocks of combinations of two marks (a narrow and wide "wedge") to make up the 1-59 possible digits - did their system have 59 "Numbers" or just 2? They had no symbol for zero.

The Mayan civilisation in Belize, Guatemala and southeastern Mexico used a vigesimal, base 20, system that used a combination of upto 4 dots and 4 lines (or iconographs of faces) to represent the decimal digits 1-19; the zero digit was represented by a separate shell symbol. So did the Mayans use 20 or 3 or 23 different "numbers"?

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

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Answer 5

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Answer 6

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Answer 7

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