Were numbers discovered or invented?

They were invented by a very early cavewoman, who was disciplining little Oog, and she said I’m going to count to huh. what do I count? And her hubby said I’ll be out hunting, and she said be back by huh, we need a system.

LOL!!

I thought that was a great question. Are they tied to the origins of language or did they come about before or after?

Um…me thinks after. I mean, there may have been a non-verbal brainiac before the invention (or discovery) of speech, but how would he or she have been able to communicate her thoughts?

Invented. They are just a model to help understanding reality.

But 2 bananas are 2 bananas, even if we don’t have a word for 2.

2 bananas are bananas. there is no number “2” in nature.

Sesame Street invented numbers, everyone knows that.

Well the fact that they’re called “digits” should be a big clue. Also there’s Metaphysics.

They were noted in the bible, when god gave the Fifteen Commandments. But Moses dropped one of the tablets….

(Thanks to Mel Brooks!)

I would say invented due to the fact that, even tho little used today, Roman numerals preceded Arabic numbers (the current system in everyday use).

So, two different societies invented two different methods for keeping track of things.

And I have absolutely no idea why Roman numerals are still used at all nowadays :)

Well, how boring would “Super Bowl 47” be?

All right, I’ll give you that one in terms of graphic looks alone.

But how many people encountering it in Roman numerals the FIRST time would even know that it’s Super Bowl number 47 to begin with? Riddle me that :)

what is a super bowl?

Football. It decides the best team in the country. People lose their mind over it.

I quit paying attention after Superbowl X.

I think “discovered or invented” is the wrong way of looking at it. Like mountains, antelope or the weather, they were all hanging around waiting for names. Certainly the fact that numbers could be manipulated was discovered and methods of manipulation invented. But then, do “imaginary” numbers exist? Was the square root of (-1) discovered or invented? I vote for discovered.

This is the sort of thing that drives me crazy. (thank you very much @Dutchess_III ). Are numbers “real”, or merely concepts used to describe “reality”? How about death?

Cool