Greek Numbers
The first Greek numbers known was a system known as the Attic System. It consisted of a vertical stroke which represented a one. It also used symbols for the 5, 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000. These symbols were also used ,in a similar way, to the Egyptians numerical system. The symbols were used repeatedly when they were needed and the system was non positional. This Greek Attic system was beginning to be replaced by the Alexandrian Age. It was replaced by the Ionian system or the alphabetic numerals. The Ionic system was more sophisticated than the Egyptian system but it was still non positional. It was also a decimal system like the Egyptian and the Attic system. This new system was alphabetical and it required more than 27 different symbols for numbers plus a few other symbols for meaning.
In the first millennium B.C., many of the Greek island states were independent so they had their own currency, weights, and measures, and anything else that involved numbers. This created a difference in the number system for these islands. There were also several number systems which were proposed by some Greek mathematicians but was not ever used much. The first Greek number system was known as the Acrophonic system. This is the system which was used in the 1st. millennium. This meant that the symbols of the numerals came from the first letter of the number name. The symbol comes from an abbreviation of the word which is used for the number. The number system did not consist of abstract numbers as we know them.
The basic unit of money in Greece is the drachma. A larger unit of money was known as a talent and it is worth 6000 drachmas. The drachma was then sub divided into smaller units called the obol. The obol is worth 1/6 of a drachma. There is also a unit called the chalkos and it is 1/8 of the obol. This money system is not based on the decimal system but the system had the number 10 as a base and the number 5 as a secondary base. The Greeks used this system for more than just money. It was also used for weights and measures. The drachma was also the name of a unit of weight.
The second ancient Greek number system was the Alphabetical numerals system, or sometimes known as the ‘learned’ system. Values were given to the letters of the alphabet. The number system was made from symbols so it would be difficult for some of us to decipher the numbers and to figure out the money system that the Greek use. It may not be the same system that was used in ancient Greek times but the one they use today may still be confusing to some.
|