1.3.

Finger Numbers and Written Numbers 1

1.3. Finger Numbers and Written Numbers

Note. In Section 1.2. Number Bases we considered body counting as motivation
for certain bases of number systems (in particular, bases 5, 10, and 20). We also
mentioned “spoken numbers” (that is, the names of numbers such as the French
quatre-vingt [four-twenties] for 80). These two ideas are united in Greenland (ac-
cording to Eves on page 12) where the spoken number for 20 translates as “one
man” and the spoken number for 40 translates as “two men,” etc.; the implication
here is that these names are based on finger and toe body counting. In this section
we consider the representation of numbers using configurations of the fingers.

Note. In spite of the title of the section, we don’t actually consider written num-
bers until the next section. The permanence of written numbers are necessary for
performing computations. We mentioned the use of marks on bones to tally quan-
tities in Section 1.1. Primitive Counting. In the next few sections we consider early
written number systems, starting with those of the Babylonians and Egyptians.
A written symbol representing a number is a numeral. As a quick philosophical
comment, the objects of mathematics are IDEAS and have no existence in the
physical world. A ‘line’ is an idea and its properties are given by the axioms of
geometry; a line it not the thing we draw on paper or a white board (these are
representations of a line). Similarly, the number five is an idea and has no physical
existence. The numeral ‘5,’ on the other hand, is a physical representation of the
idea ‘five.’ The area of mathematics involves the study of the relationships between
ideas. For example, in geometry the relationships between the ideas of points, lines,
circles, planes, and so forth are studied. Arithmetic is the study of the relationships
between the ideas of (whole) numbers, addition, multiplication, and equality.
1.3. Finger Numbers and Written Numbers 2

Note. Eves speculates (page 13) that finger numbers (that is, representing numbers
by the positioning of the fingers) “probably predates the use of either number
symbols or number names.” In fact the word digit means “finger” as well as meaning
our numbers 0 through 9.

Note. In Georges Ifrah’s The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to

the Invention of the Computer, translated from French by D. Bellos, E. Harding, S.
Wood, and I. Monk (John Wiley & Sons, 2000), finger numbers beyond the most
elementary ones are described in some detail.
“There is a much more elaborate way of counting with the hand which,
from ancient times until the present day, has been used by the Latins
and can also be found in the Middle East where, apparently, it may go
back even further in time. It is rather like the sign language used by
the deaf and [mute]. Using one or both hands at need, counting up to
9,999 is possible by this method. From two different descriptions we
can reconstruct it in it entirety. . . . The first was written in Latin in the
seventh century by the English monk Bede (‘The Venerable’ [circa 672–
May 26, 735]) in his De ratione temporum, in the chapter de computo bel
loquela digitorum (‘Counting and talking with the fingers’). The other
is to be found in the sixteenth-century Persian dictionary Farhangi
Djihangiri. There is a most striking coincidence between these two
descriptions written nine centuries apart and in such widely separated
places.” [page 52]
1.3. Finger Numbers and Written Numbers 3

“Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the same manual counting
remained extraordinarily in vogue until the end of the Middle Ages
. . . and played a most important part in mediaeval education. The
finger counting described in Bede’s De computo vel loquela digitorum
(cited above) was extensively used in the teaching of the Trivium of
grammar, rhetoric and logic during the undergraduate years leading
to the B.A. degree, which, with the Quadrivum (literally ‘crossroads,’
the meeting of the Four Ways of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and
music) studied in the following years leading to the M.A. degree, made
up the Seven Liberal Arts of the scholarly curriculum, from the sixth
to the fifteenth centuries. ... Only when written arithmetic became
widespread, with the adoption of the use of Arabic numerals, did the
practice of arithmetic on hands and fingers finally decline.” [page 56]
On pages 53 and 54 of Ifrah’s voluminous work, a figure is given explaining how
units (excluding 0), tens, hundreds, and thousands are formed with the fingers (he
gives both the approach by Bede and the 16th century Persian dictionary).

Note. Luca Pacioli (circa 1445–June 19, 1517) published Summa de arithmetica,
geometria, proportioni et proportionalitia (“Summary of arithmetic, geometry, pro-
portion, and proportionality”) in 1494. The book was written in Italian (as opposed
to Latin; Bede’s 7th century work was in Latin). It was printed (as opposed to
being copied by a scribe) and is one of the first printed mathematics books. It
was intended as a textbook and a reference source. It contains the first printed
description of double-entry bookkeeping. It also includes the figure given below
1.3. Finger Numbers and Written Numbers 4

that describes the finger numbers based on units, tens, hundreds, and thousands.
Likely this was a preferred reference for finger numbers in the Mediterranean region
until the spread of the Hindu-Arabic numerals. We’ll see more details on Pacioli
in Section 8.5. The Fifteenth Century.

Finger numbers from Luca Pacioli’s Sūma of 1494. The first two columns
represent the left hand, the other two the right hand.

Note. Eves refers to the ongoing use of finger numbers by “primitive” peoples (a
term Eves uses a bit too much; Ifrah also drops this term now and then). Eves
states that some Africans, Arabs, Persians, and North and South American natives
still use finger numbers (see his page 14). Well, one contemporary population that
1.3. Finger Numbers and Written Numbers 5

certainly uses finger numbers is the deaf community.

Notice that the American Sign Language (“ASL”; the above figure was accessed
5/28/2023) finger numbers for one through five differ from those given by Pacioli
in the sense that Pacioli’s finger numbers involve folding down fingers successively
whereas the ASL numbers involve extending fingers successively. In fact, the ASL
finger numbers for one through five very closely resemble the finger numbers used in
parts of Oceania shown in Section 1.2. Number Bases which was used in reference
to a quinary scale (that is, base 5 number system). The subtle difference is that
in the Oceania numbers, the thumb goes up first (for ‘1’) and in ASL the thumb
goes up last (to complete the extension of all 5 fingers). Notice also that the larger
ASL signs involve movement and, unlike the other finger numbers mentioned, are
not static. Revised: 5/28/2023