Russian numbers
The concept of number originated in ancient times, when a person learned to count objects: two trees, seven bulls, five fish. At first, they were counting on the fingers. In colloquial speech, we still sometimes hear: "High five!", That is, give me your hand.
Russian numbers
Later, instead of fingers, nicks on sticks began to be used for counting. And when writing arose, letters began to be used to designate numbers. For example, among the Slavs, the letter A meant the number "one" (B had no numerical value), C - two, G - three, D - four, E - five.
Gradually, people became aware of numbers regardless of objects and persons that could be counted: just the number "two" or the number "seven". In this regard, the Slavs have the word number. In the meaning of "count, value, quantity" it began to be used in Russian from the 11th century. Our ancestors used the word number to indicate a date, a year.
In the second half of the fifteenth century, special signs denoting numbers became widespread in European countries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. They were invented by the Indians, and they came to Europe thanks to the Arabs, therefore got the name Arabic numerals.
There is a well-known theory describing a possible way to create Arabic numerals. According to it, each number contains in its writing the corresponding number of angles: number one contains one angle in its writing, number two contains two angles, etc. up to nine, which contains respectively nine corners.
Russian number and digit
So, the words number and digit differ in meaning and origin. A number is a unit of account that expresses quantity (one house, two houses, three houses, etc.). A digit is a sign (symbol) indicating the meaning of a number. To write numbers, we use Arabic numerals - 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 0, and in some cases Roman numerals - I, II, III, IV, V, etc.Nowadays, the words number and number are used in other meanings. For example, when we ask "What date is it today?" We mean the day of the month. The combinations "including", "from among someone", "among someone" denote the composition, the totality of people or objects. And if we prove something with numbers in hand, then we will definitely use numerical indicators. The word figure is also called the amount of money (income figure, fee figure).
In colloquial speech, the words number and number often replace each other. For example, we call a number not only a quantity, but also a sign that expresses it. Astronomical numbers or astronomical numbers speak of very large numerical values.
The word quantity appeared in Russian in the 11th century. It came from the Old Church Slavonic language and is formed from the word koliko - "how much". The noun is used in relation to everything that can be counted and measured. These can be people or objects (the number of guests, the number of books), as well as the amount of a substance that we do not count, but measure.
