Before people began to count, they probably had no name for any number but one. Suppose a hunter wanted to tell about a small herd of four to six deer he had seen. He might just say it was a "hand"...
Fingers for numbers
It was early morning as Amu, the shepherd boy, trudged toward the sheep pen, whistling merrily. His feet were bare. His only clothing was a short skirt made of animal skin. In one hand he carried his...
Counting sheep
How many sheep are there, here? Two, of course. You didn't have to count them to know that. You could tell at a glance. And you probably don't have to count these sheep either, to know that there...
Fingers, pebbles, and wiggly marks
What would we do without numbers? Why, we couldn't even count! We couldn't keep track of birthdays, Or of any other amount. But have there always been numbers? Were they always just "lying around"?...
Ten
The ancient Greeks gave ten a shape with ten sides and ten corners. Such a shape is called a decagon, which means "ten corners." The Greeks also thought of ten as a triangle made out of the first...
Nine
The ancient Greeks thought of nine as a shape with nine sides and nine corners. Such a shape is called a nonagon, which means "nine corners." They also thought of nine as nine dots arranged in the...
Eight
The Greeks of long ago thought of eight as a shape with eight sides and eight corners. Such a shape is called an octagon, a name that means "eight corners." They also saw eight as a shape called a...
Seven
The ancient Greeks thought of seven as a shape with seven sides and seven corners. Such a shape is called a heptagon, which means "seven corners." Seven seemed like a special, magical number to...
Six
> Long ago, the Greeks discovered something very odd about six. It can > be divided evenly by three numbers that are less than itself---one, > two, and three. And, these three numbers add up to six!...
Five
Think of the number five as five dots that you can arrange in a flat shape that has five sides and five corners, or angles. A shape of this kind is called a pentagon, a name that means "five...