The example of such a system would be Greek alphabetic number system (see Fig.3):įig.3 Greek Alphabetic Numeral System (Additive numeral systems of Type 3) The additive systems of Type 3 use alphabets to represent the numbers. The Roman numerals belong to additive systems of Type 2 (see Fig.2): In addition, they have special symbols for 5, 50, 500…. The additive systems of Type 2 have special symbols for 1, 10, 100, 1000…. The example of such a system would be Egyptian hieroglyphic system (see Fig.1):įig.1 Egyptian Hieroglyphic System (Additive numeral systems of Type 1) The additive systems of Type 1 have separate symbol for 1 and for each power of 10 (or 20). There are three types of additive numeral systems. The sum of the values of all the symbols gives the value of whole number. Let us take a closer look at these numeral systems.Īdditive numeral systems use principle of addition.Īny number in that system can be represented by the combination of symbols, where each symbol has its own value independent of position. Georges Ifrah in his important work “The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer” gives more detailed classification of the numeral systems: However, many researchers (especially a French mathematician Geneviève Guitel in her “Compared History of written numerations”, 1975) agree that written numeral systems should be divided into two main groups – additive and positional. There is no an official classification of the numeral systems. number systems have developed spontaneously in different isolated cultures and so almost each civilization created its own language and numeral system. When alphabets and written languages appeared, the simple counting systems transformed into quite complicated ways of writing numbers.Ībout 3000 – 3500 B.C. The simple counting systems appeared when people started to develop speech, but even before, the first primitive people had notion of counting and could enumerate similar objects, using their fingers, pabbles, knotted roups or notches on sticks or bones. The numbers and numeral systems are very old. It will also demonstrate interesting SQL techniques that can be used, when you need to convert the numbers from one numeral system to another.

This article is about the numeral systems. Time, and angles, for example, are still based on sexagesimal systems. Some of them are not relevant anymore the other ones we still use and develop. If you carefully look around, you will find many signs of different numeral systems. Based on that system and supported by the powerful mathematical apparatus, the computers changed human life. These states, being coded as 0 and 1, perfectly fitted into binary numeral system. The computers were built of transistors – small electronic devices with two physical states: opened and closed. I got my first hints of other numeral system at university. In my mind, they were associated with the old, broken watch – both, the numbers and the watch were not in use.

That fact, however, did not make me curious about the Roman numbers. My mother told me that these symbols are the Roman numbers. The watch had a beautiful watch face with strange symbols on it, instead of numbers. In one day, among the old documents, stored in our family, I found my grandfather’s watch. However, I did not pay much attention to the fact that the counting rules for time and money are different. When I grew up, I discovered that numbers could be helpful in a few more situations, for example to identify time and count money. One of my parents used to bend my fingers, saying “One, Two, Three…” and all our guests smiled, when I tried to repeat “Four, Five, Six…”Īt that time, I believed that people need the numbers in order to count their fingers and to make their parents and relatives laugh. My fascination with numbers started when I was about two years old. Numeral Systems and Numbers Conversion in SQL - Simple Talk Skip to content

Babylonian numerals converter