Do you know what the Greek number system was like? What symbols represented each number? Don’t worry, in the article we reveal everything you need to know about the greek numbers (and we are not talking about the current Greek economy).
Greek Numbers
The Ancient Greece It is undoubtedly one of the richest and most fascinating civilizations in the history of mankind. Thousands of scholars have stopped to analyze their art, their political system or the great contributions they made in ethical and philosophical matters. However, in this case we are going to stop to learn a little more about its numeral system, that is, the Greek numbers.
In the Greek culture the knowledge and study of arithmetic (from ἀριθμός, number) were very important, as can be deduced from numerous literary testimonies. On the other hand, one of the first philosophical schools of Greece, the pythagoreanism , paid special attention to the number, thought of as the logical foundation of reality. The propensity for abstraction, characteristic of Greek thought, inevitably manifested itself also in the theoretical study of arithmetic and geometry (from γῆ, earth, and μέτρον, measure).
Despite this, the systems the greeks used to write numbers were quite cumbersome and complicated, at least compared to the Arabic numeral system we use now. On the other hand, the same goes for the system used by the Romans. As always, the road to simplification is long and exhausting.
The Greeks used two different systems to write numbers. The oldest system, called acrophonic (from ἄκρος, extreme, initial and φων voce, voice) was made up of a group of signs that indicated the initial of the word with which some particularly significant numbers were called, such as the unit, 5, 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 .
The other system, which extended from the time hellenistic and it was the only one that was used in written texts, it consists of the conventional assignment of numerical values to the letters of the Greek alphabet based on their position, which is why this second system is called alphabetical . In this system, necessity imposed the use of three characteristic signs of the archaic alphabets, but no longer present in the Ionian alphabet: Ϛ (stigma), Ϡ (sampi) and Ϟ (cup, which would later be Q in the Latin alphabet). . ).
However, we have to take into account that in neither system is there a sign to indicate zero. A disadvantage present in both systems is that it was impossible to perform any calculation by stacking the symbols used. Precisely for this reason the ancients had to resort to the use of the abacus for all the necessary calculations in the different daily situations.
In this way, the greek numbers as they belong to a number system that used letters of the greek alphabet even today it can still be used for ordinal numbers, in a similar way to the use of Roman numerals in Western Europe.
It is estimated that the oldest greek numeral system was the one mentioned attic or acrophonicwhich worked form similar to Roman, which derives from this system. It is estimated that it appeared around the 6th century BC. c.
In establishing their numbering system, the Greeks were influenced by the advances of the Egyptians and the Phoenicians. They devised a system whose base would be the number 10 and which is characterized by literal representation using the letters of the alphabet themselves.
From the fourth century BC. c.the acrophonic system it is replaced by an alphabetic system quasi decimal, called ionian.
the ionic number system
This number system of the Greeks, known as Ionian, consisted of assign a letter to each unit digit, a every ten another letter Already every hundred, another letter.
This implied the requirement of 27 letters, so that the Greek system of 24 letters, with three letters already outdated: the calls saymma for 6 (today it is used stigma), qoppa for 90 (today the numeric qoppa), Y sampi for the 900.
For distinguish numbers from letters, we place an acute accent at the end of each group. The alphabetic or Ionian system is based on the principle of addition in which the numerical values of the letters are added to form the total. For example, 241 is represented as σμα´ (200 + 40 + 1).
Secondly, to represent numbers from 1,000 to 999,999 are used the same unit letters, tens and hundredsbut at these an inverted acute accent is added or a comma so that we can tell them apart. For example, 2004 is represented as ͵βδ´ (2000 + 4). No symbol is used to represent 0.
- In modern Greek or in the modern greek we can use lowercase or uppercase, and these will vary depending on the context. For example, when used as cardinals appear almost exclusively in lowercase (e.g. ͵αωκγ΄, “1823”), while when used as ordinals are often used in lower casewhile they will be used in capital in dynastic names (eg Φίλιππος Βʹ) and in the numbering of the chapters of a book.
the hellenistic zero
Lastly, an important element should be highlighted within the greek number system: the Hellenistic zero. The notion of “zero2” is undoubtedly one of the most curious concepts within the oldest numerical systems, and in the Greek case it is not an exception either, despite the fact that this civilization already had the advances made by the Egyptians or the Greeks. Phoenicians.
Hellenistic astronomers included a special symbol for 0. This zero was used more often in the representation of figures. Examples of this were the limitation of fractions, called minutes, seconds, thirds, fourths, etc.; not being used in the integer part of a number.
Curiosities about Greek numbers
We are going to show you curiosities about the Greek numbers or some of the feats that the Greeks tried to achieve with their numeral system.
As we have already pointed out, in Greek numeration each letter of the alphabet represented a number from 1 to 9. If more figures were wanted to be added, it was done using the next nine letters of the alphabet, until completing the 27 available characters. This fact, joining numbers to letters of the alphabet, caused certain numbers to be formed by a combination of letters that formed words with esoteric and mysterious dyes. In other words, the Greek numeration system also had its influence on the fears and superstitions of the people of the time.
The Greeks were one of the first civilizations to search for the perfect number. Perfect numbers are those in which the results of all possible divisions would add up to the number itself. That is, the results of the possible divisions of the number 28 would be 14, 7, 4, 2 and 1. Adding these figures (the results of its possible divisions) gives us the number itself, 28. Although it seems simple, few numbers they fulfill them. The first is 1, the second is 6, the third is 28, the fourth is 496, the fifth is 8,128, and the sixth would already be 33,550,336. The formula for finding perfect numbers is 2n-1(2n-1) = N.
Although the Greek civilization was distinguished by its great thinkers and its advances in political, social or philosophical matters, the Greek numeral system accused of excessive rigidity that did not make it practical for arithmetic calculations. For this reason, Greek civilization is not mainly characterized by its contributions to mathematical matters, although there are always exceptions.
Greek numbers video
Next, and to close the article, we leave you with a video in which you can see even better what Greek numeration is like and learn to handle Greek numbers.
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