Everything is math: Part 1

 Everything is math 

Part one : why humans needed and developed numbers 

In this new 5 part series I’ll be looking at the uses of and importance of numbers across civilisations, science , culture and metaphysics.  But let’s start by asking a simple question: how did we get numbers in the first place?

Numbers are among humanity's oldest and most influential inventions. They helped our ancestors keep track of animals, measure food, trade goods, mark the passage of time and organise their communities. Yet numbers also came to represent something far more profound: order, harmony, divine power, fate and the hidden structure of the universe.

Today, we use numbers so routinely that it is easy to forget how extraordinary they are. We count our money, measure our lives in years, divide time into hours and minutes, and use numbers to describe everything from the movement of planets to the structure of music. Across history, numbers have also played a central role in religion, mythology, philosophy, magic and divination.

To understand how numbers became part of our cultures, we must begin long before written mathematics, when early humans first recognised that one thing was different from two things, and two things were different from many.

Before written numbers: the origins of counting

Counting probably began as a practical ability rather than a formal system of mathematics. Long before people invented written symbols, they needed to recognise quantities in their everyday surroundings.

A hunter might have needed to know whether the number of animals in a herd had changed. A gatherer might have remembered how many baskets of fruit had been collected. A community might have needed to divide food fairly among its members.

Humans did not necessarily need words for numbers to recognise these differences. Many animals can distinguish between small quantities, and human beings have an innate ability to perceive approximate amounts. However, exact counting, spoken number systems and written numerals developed through increasingly sophisticated cultural practices.

Some early counting methods may have included:

Fingers and hands: Our ten fingers provided a convenient way to represent quantities. Counting on fingers remains common across many cultures.

Stones and seeds: Moving one object for each animal, item or unit of food provided a simple physical record.

Notches on wood or bone: Marks could record quantities, repeated events or obligations.

Knots and cords: Knotted cords could preserve information, including quantities, without writing on a flat surface.

Memory and spoken words: Communities developed words and expressions for quantities, eventually building systems for larger numbers.

We cannot know exactly which method came first. These techniques may have emerged independently in different communities, and some may have existed long before the surviving archaeological evidence.

The important development was the realisation that a quantity could be represented by something other than the objects themselves. A group of five animals, for example, could be represented by five stones or five marks.

This was a major step towards abstract thought: the number was no longer the animal, the stone or the mark. It was the quantity that they all represented.

The earliest physical evidence for numbers

Archaeologists have discovered prehistoric objects bearing marks that may have been used for counting or recording information. Their precise purposes are often debated, but they demonstrate that people were making deliberate marks long before the first cities and writing systems.

The Lebombo bone

Around 44,000 years old, according to commonly cited estimates

The Lebombo bone, found in the Lebombo Mountains region of southern Africa, is a baboon fibula bearing a series of incised marks. It has been interpreted as a possible tally object. Its age and purpose make it an intriguing example of early marking, although we cannot establish with certainty what its marks recorded.

The Ishango bone

Approximately 20,000 years old

Discovered near the former Lake Edward in Central Africa, the Ishango bone has groups of carefully arranged notches. Some researchers have suggested that these groupings reflect counting or numerical patterns, including possible relationships between numbers. Other explanations remain possible: it is not proven to be a mathematical instrument or an early calculator.

Other tally objects

Marks on bones, stones and other materials appear in numerous prehistoric contexts. Some may have recorded quantities, lunar observations, hunting events or repeated activities. Without written explanations, it is difficult to distinguish numerical records from decorative, symbolic or other kinds of marks.

These finds are important, but we should be careful about calling them the first numbers. They are among the earliest surviving objects interpreted as possible numerical records. Counting itself almost certainly existed before anything that could survive archaeologically.

The distinction is important: the history of counting is much older than the history of written mathematics.

The first number systems: Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt

By approximately 3500–3000 BCE, some of the world's earliest cities were developing systems for recording numbers. This was a turning point because growing settlements needed ways to manage food supplies, land, labour, trade and taxation.

Mesopotamia: numbers and the birth of administration

In ancient Mesopotamia, particularly in the region of Sumer in what is now southern Iraq, clay tokens and other counting practices were associated with the development of increasingly sophisticated accounting systems. By around 3200 BCE, numerical signs were appearing on clay tablets alongside the earliest forms of writing. 

These records could document quantities of grain, livestock, oil, beer and other commodities. Numbers therefore became instruments of administration and economic power. They helped rulers and temple authorities keep track of the resources under their control.

Over time, Mesopotamian scribes developed mathematical techniques for multiplying, dividing, measuring land and solving practical problems.

One of their most remarkable achievements was the development of a base-60, or sexagesimal, numerical system. It became particularly important in Babylonian mathematics.

Its influence remains with us today:

60 seconds make a minute.

60 minutes make an hour.

A circle is divided into 360 degrees.

The origins of these conventions are complex, involving ancient mathematical and astronomical traditions, but the legacy of Mesopotamian base-60 mathematics is unmistakable. 

The number 60 was useful because it can be divided evenly by many numbers, including 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10. That made it convenient for calculations involving fractions and measurements.

Ancient Egypt: numbers, land and the divine order

Ancient Egyptians developed their own numerical notation by around 3000 BCE. Their number symbols included distinct signs for units, tens, hundreds, thousands and larger powers of ten.

Numbers served several essential purposes:

Measuring agricultural land after the annual flooding of the Nile.

Calculating taxes and recording harvests.

Organising the construction of temples, tombs and monuments.

Measuring ingredients and quantities in medicine.

Calculating dates and organising religious festivals.

Egyptian scribes also developed mathematical methods for fractions, geometry and practical arithmetic. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, copied around 1550 BCE from an earlier mathematical tradition, preserves examples of problems involving quantities, distribution, measurement and calculation.

Numbers were also woven into Egyptian religious and cosmological thought. Egyptian culture placed great importance on ma'at—the principle of truth, justice, balance and cosmic order. Although not every Egyptian number had a religious meaning, the ability to measure, proportion and organise the world fitted into a broader conception of an ordered universe.

The construction of temples and monumental tombs required practical mathematical knowledge, while the placement, proportions and orientation of sacred buildings could also express religious ideas.

Numbers had begun to serve two purposes at once: they made the world easier to manage, and they helped people express how they understood the world.

How numbers became part of everyday culture

Once societies began using numerical systems, numbers entered almost every aspect of collective life.

Agriculture and food

Farmers needed to estimate harvests, distribute grain, count livestock and plan planting seasons. Measures and quantities became central to survival and taxation.

Trade and wealth

Merchants used numbers to record debts, calculate prices, weigh metals and compare the value of goods. Written numerical records made more complicated exchanges possible.

Time and astronomy

Observations of the Sun, Moon and stars encouraged people to count days, track lunar cycles and predict seasonal changes. Calendars connected numerical systems with agriculture, navigation and religious observances.

Architecture and sacred space

Builders used measurements, proportions, angles and repeated patterns. In some cultures, numerical proportions also acquired religious significance, linking practical construction with ideas about cosmic harmony.

As communities grew more complex, numbers became more than a personal aid to memory. They helped societies establish laws, collect taxes, organise armies, define property and coordinate large public projects.

They also influenced language and social customs. We speak of being someone's number one, having second thoughts, reaching a third age, or beginning from square one. Number words became embedded in expressions that communicate rank, sequence, importance and identity.

In this sense, numbers became cultural inventions as well as mathematical tools. Different societies chose different symbols, counting bases, measuring systems and associations, reflecting their practical needs and intellectual traditions.

The importance of the number system we use today

The digits we now write as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 belong to the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, which developed in India and spread through the scholarly and commercial networks of the Islamic world before becoming widely adopted in Europe. 

This system has two particularly important features.

First, it is decimal: it groups quantities around powers of ten. Ten, one hundred and one thousand represent progressively larger groups.

Second, it uses place value: the position of a digit determines its value.

For example, in 222, the three instances of the digit 2 represent 200, 20 and 2. The symbol remains the same, but its position changes its meaning.

This may seem obvious today, but place-value notation is a remarkably powerful idea. It allows a small collection of symbols to represent enormous quantities.

The revolutionary idea of zero

Zero deserves particular attention because it changed the possibilities of mathematics.

Zero can mean that a quantity is absent, but it can also act as a placeholder. In the number 205, it indicates that there are no tens, allowing the hundreds and units to retain their correct positions.

The idea of recording an absence was not entirely unknown to earlier cultures. Babylonian mathematicians used placeholder signs in certain positional notations, and the Maya developed their own zero independently. However, the development of zero as a fully functioning numeral within a decimal place-value system was a major achievement of Indian mathematics. 

From the Middle East, the Indian system travelled into Europe, where it gradually displaced older systems for many forms of calculation. The change was not immediate; merchants, scholars and administrators adopted the new methods at different rates.

Our modern number system is therefore the product of centuries of exchange between cultures, rather than the invention of a single civilisation.

Numbers in ancient Greece: from mathematics to philosophy

In ancient Greece, numbers acquired a new philosophical significance. Greek thinkers explored not only how to calculate with numbers, but also what numbers might reveal about the nature of reality.

The Pythagoreans are associated with the belief that numbers and numerical relationships could explain the structure of the cosmos. Their philosophy connected mathematics with music, geometry, astronomy and the search for harmony.

Numbers and music

The relationship between musical harmony and mathematics was especially important. Strings of different lengths can produce different pitches, and simple ratios between string lengths can produce recognisable musical intervals.

For example, in a simplified string experiment:

A string vibrating at a given frequency produces a particular pitch.

A string vibrating at twice that frequency produces a pitch one octave higher.

A frequency ratio of 3:2 corresponds to a perfect fifth.

A frequency ratio of 4:3 corresponds to a perfect fourth.

These relationships helped inspire the idea that numerical ratios reveal an underlying harmony in nature.

The ancient Greeks also connected mathematics with the movements of celestial bodies. The idea of a harmony of the spheres imagined the cosmos as an ordered system whose movements could be understood through musical or numerical relationships.

Although the ancient account of Pythagoras's discoveries is surrounded by later legends, the wider principle remains important: mathematics can reveal patterns that are not immediately apparent to our senses.

Numbers as the building blocks of reality

Some Pythagorean thinkers treated numbers as fundamental principles of existence. Odd and even numbers, ratios, geometrical shapes and oppositions were given philosophical significance.

This was a crucial transition in cultural history. Numbers were no longer merely things to count; they became a way of explaining what the world was made of and how it worked.

Such ideas influenced later philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, religious thought and Western esoteric traditions.

Numbers in religion, magic and divination

Numbers have acquired symbolic meanings in many societies because people notice recurring patterns in nature and human experience. There are four seasons in many traditional European calendars, approximately seven days in a week, twelve months in the modern year and recurring cycles in the movements of the Moon and planets.

These patterns encouraged people to associate certain numbers with particular qualities, deities, stages of life and cosmic principles.

It is important, however, to distinguish the mathematical properties of numbers from the cultural meanings people give them. A number may be sacred in one tradition and ordinary in another. Symbolic associations also change over time.

Here are some examples of numbers that became culturally significant.

1

One — unity and beginnings

One can represent the origin of something, individuality, wholeness or a single divine source. In monotheistic traditions, the number can be associated with the oneness of God. In modern spiritual symbolism, it is also frequently linked to new beginnings.

2

Two — duality and balance

Two can symbolise complementary opposites: day and night, Sun and Moon, masculine and feminine, or life and death. In some modern Pagan traditions, duality also expresses relationships between divine principles or the changing balance of nature.

3 Three — completion and transformation

Three appears in many religious narratives and mythologies. Examples include the triple goddess in some modern Wiccan traditions, the Christian Trinity, and triadic deities or divine groupings in various cultures. The meanings are tradition-specific rather than evidence of a universal ancient doctrine.

4

Four — stability and the natural world

Four is associated in many traditions with the cardinal directions and, in some systems, the four classical elements: earth, air, fire and water. The number can represent orientation, structure and the organisation of the world.

7

Seven — sacred cycles and mystery

Seven is prominent in several traditions, including the seven-day week, the seven classical planets of ancient astrology and the seven heavens found in some religious cosmologies. Its importance developed through multiple historical traditions rather than from a single source.

12

Twelve — cycles and cosmic order

Twelve is associated with the twelve months of the year, the twelve zodiac signs in Western astrology and various groups of twelve in religious traditions. Its divisibility and usefulness in measuring cycles helped make it culturally influential.

These examples illustrate how practical counting, astronomy, religious storytelling and philosophical reflection could reinforce one another.

Numerology: when numbers become a language of meaning

Numerology is the practice of interpreting numbers as symbols that may reveal character, destiny, spiritual lessons or hidden patterns.

It has roots in several historical traditions, including Greek number philosophy and Jewish mystical interpretations of letters and numbers. Later systems developed their own methods for assigning meanings to numbers, calculating numerical values from names, or interpreting birth dates.

In modern witchcraft and divination, numbers may be used in:

Choosing dates for rituals and ceremonies.

Counting repetitions of prayers, affirmations or magical actions.

Interpreting dice, tarot cards and other divination tools.

Exploring personal symbolism through birth dates or names.

Organising ritual patterns around a number associated with a deity, intention or tradition.

These practices can be meaningful as spiritual or reflective activities. However, there is no reliable scientific evidence that numerology can predict the future or determine a person's destiny.

Numbers around the world: different cultures, different systems

Number systems did not develop in just one place. Across the world, communities created their own methods for counting, measuring time and expressing quantities.

The Maya

The Maya of Mesoamerica developed a sophisticated vigesimal, or base-20, system using dots, bars and a shell-like symbol for zero. Their mathematics supported complex calendar calculations and astronomical observations. Their zero was developed independently of the Indian numeral system. 

The Inca

The Inca Empire used quipu—arrangements of knotted cords—to record numerical information, including administrative quantities. Knot types, positions and cord groupings conveyed information. Scholars continue to investigate the full range of their uses; the extent to which quipu recorded language or other non-numerical information remains debated.

Ancient China

Chinese mathematicians used counting rods arranged on a surface to represent numbers and perform calculations. Their methods supported sophisticated arithmetic, including calculations with negative numbers. Rod numerals used position to express numerical values, making the arrangement of symbols important.

Ancient Rome

Roman numerals—such as I, V, X, L, C, D and M—were used for inscriptions, records, numbering and public monuments. They remain visible today on clocks, book chapters, monarchs' names and the numbering of major events. Arithmetic calculations often relied on counting boards rather than numeral notation alone.

These examples show that the modern decimal system is not the only possible way to represent quantity. Humans have invented many different systems suited to their languages, technologies, institutions and intellectual traditions.

Why numbers became so important to humanity

Numbers became central to culture because they solve practical problems while also offering a powerful way to recognise patterns.

Their historical development can be understood through several overlapping stages:

Recognition: People distinguished between quantities in the natural world.

Counting: Fingers, objects, marks and spoken words helped record exact quantities.

Record-keeping: Tally systems and written numerals supported trade, agriculture and administration.

Mathematics: Place value, fractions, geometry and calculation allowed increasingly complex problems to be solved.

Cosmology and symbolism: Numbers became associated with the order of the heavens, religious beliefs, philosophical principles and sacred cycles.

Modern civilisation: Number systems underpin science, technology, economics, engineering, computing and everyday communication.

These stages overlapped rather than following one universal sequence. Mathematical thought, symbolic meaning and practical counting often developed together.

So, as you can see , numbers have been with us for a very long time. They are , and probably always will be, an integral part of our civilisations. 

Over the next 4 parts I will take a more in depth look at how numbers work and are key to everything from music to astrology.