Numbers

Numbers are a huge part of our lives whether we realize it or not. Numbers play a major role in economics, finances, telling time, the calculations made by computers and machines . . . even our health in terms of our biometrics.

It could be said that numbers are everywhere. We use them because they’re precise compared to saying “many,” “some,” or even “a lot”. They’re used in GPS, in scheduling appointments and meetings, in making transactions online and in stores, and in the appraisals of houses, just to name a few. Without numbers, everything we would be an estimation–a rough guess.

It’s one of those things that we take for granted because it seems like it has always been around–will always be around. But what if we lived a day without numbers? What if we lived a day without knowing what time it was, without knowing what day of the month it was, without knowing anything about mathematical formulas, or even the basics of counting? Perhaps there was a time when this was the case–thousands of years ago–when the development of numbers was still in its infancy. A time when hours would go by and all there was to measure time was the sunrise and sundown.