One
One is a thing all by itself. But when you put ones together, you get
other numbers. You can make every number using ones. You can’t do that
with any other number.
The ancient Greeks were fond of thinking about numbers and playing with
numbers. They often thought of numbers as so many dots, and spent a lot
of time arranging dots in different shapes. They thought of one as both
a triangle and a square. They also felt that one was the only real
number, because all other numbers were made from it.
To the Greeks, one was so important they made it their symbol for
thinking. We seem to feel that one is important, too. When we say that
someone or something is “number one,” we mean that it’s the very best.
The color of one is said to be red. And since ancient times, many people
have thought of the number one as belonging to the star group called
Aries, the Ram.
