Many of these primitive civilizations did not get beyond distinguishing among one, two, and many; others possessed, and were able to operate with, large whole numbers. Still others achieved the recognition of numbers as abstract concepts, the adoption of special words for the individual numbers, the introduction of symbols for numbers, and even the use of a base such as ten, twenty, or five to denote a larger unit of quantity.
—Where do math symbols come from – John David Walters | Video by TED-Ed
