Indian Number System
Introduction
Numbers are essential in our life. Counting with numbers is required in our day to day transactions. What is the population of our country? How many members are affected with the pandemic? What is the temperature in the city ? What is the distance between two cities ? What is the cost of the daily essentials ? These are the questions coming as part of our life. Answers to these questions will be in numbers only.
Let us see what these numbers are and how did they originate?
Counting starts from the number One. Zero is a number which precedes number One. The Numbers from 0 to 9 which we use for counting have an interesting history.
The Indian Numerals
India has a very ancient history dating back to thousands of years. In those days Samskrit was commonly used.
| Numbers | Sanskrit Name | Numbers | Sanskrit Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ekam | 10+1 = 11 | ekādaśa |
| 2 | dve | 10+5 = 15 | pañcadaśa |
| 3 | trīṇi | 10+10 =20 | viṃśatiḥ |
| 4 | catvāri | 50 | pañcāśat |
| 5 | pañca | 100 | śatam |
| 6 | ṣaṭ | ||
| 7 | sapta | ||
| 8 | aṣṭa | ||
| 9 | nava | ||
| 10 | daśa |
While the Greeks had no terminology for denominations above the myriad (104) and the Romans above the mille (103) , the ancient Hindus dealt freely with no less than eighteen denominations. In modern times also, the numeral language of no other nation is as scientific and perfect as that of the Hindus.
In the Yaurveda Saṃhitā (Vājasaneyi) the following list of numeral 'denominations is given: Eka (1), daśa (10), śata (100), sahasra (1000), ayuta (10,000), niyuta (100,000), prayuta (1,000,000), arbuda (10,000,000), nyarbuda (100,000,000), samudra (1,000,000,000), madhya (10,000,000,000), anta (100,000,000,000), parārdha (1,000,000,000,000). The same list occurs at two places in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā .
