A History of Numerical Systems and How They Were Used Both in the Past and Today

A TED-Ed lesson by Alessandra King explains the history of different numerical systems and how they were used both in the past and today. The lesson includes quizzes and additional resources for curious viewers who would like to learn more about the topic.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" and 0. With just these ten symbols, we can write any rational number imaginable. But why these particular symbols? Why ten of them? And why do we arrange them the way we do? Alessandra King gives a brief history of numerical systems.

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