ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Prehistoric numerals

Okay kiddo, so let's talk about how people counted a long, long time ago, when they didn't have numbers like we do today.

Have you ever seen pictures of cavemen or dinosaurs in books? Well, those things happened a really, really long time ago, and the people who lived back then didn't have numbers like we do. They didn't have a number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or even 10!

So, how did they count things? Well, one way was to use their fingers and toes. They would use their fingers to count up to 5, and their toes to count up to 10. That's why we still use words like "digits" to talk about fingers and toes!

Another way people counted was to use marks or lines in the dirt or on stones. They would make one mark for each thing they wanted to count, and then they would group them into fives or tens.

Some places in the world where people still live like their ancestors did a really long time ago, still use these ways of counting.

Isn't that cool? So remember, a really long time ago, people counted using their digits and marks on stones or dirt, instead of numbers like we do today.