Throughout history different people have used different number systems .The system that we use is the Hindu-Arabic system which uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.Different SystemsThe ancient Egyptians used tally strokes to record and count objects. The Egyptian number system was one of the oldest in the world and dates from about 3000 BC. The Egyptians used hieroglyphs (picture symbols) to represent different numbers. Today, you will learn how to read some of these Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The Egyptians had a base 10 number system, which means that they had separate symbols for one unit, one ten, one hundred, one thousand, one ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and one million.

The Egyptian system does not have place value.

The Ancient Greeks saw the need to include a symbol for 5. The symbol was combined with the symbols for 10, 100 and 1000 to make 50, 500 and 5000.