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Chapter 1
Introduction
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Mathematics is a grand edifice of the human intellect constructed

over a period of a few millennia, cutting across different civilisa-
tions. In natural and biological sciences, old theories make way
for new ones, but in mathematics, new developments are added,
sometimes connecting previous separate areas, without replacing
them. Freeman Dyson in a lecture classified mathematicians into
two groups, namely, birds and frogs. Birds take an overview of
different areas and establish connections among them, whereas frogs
continue to find new gems in one restricted area. The activities of
both groups have enriched the subject. The ever increasing field
of modern mathematics starts with counting. For counting we use
positive integers 1, 2, 3, . . . , which are aptly called natural numbers.
Everybody notices one Sun, two eyes, five fingers and so on in nature.
Leopold Kronecker said, “God made the natural numbers, everything
else is man’s handiwork” [9].
The sense of quantity of discrete objects (elements in a set) in terms
of one, two, few and many is also possessed by some animals, birds
and insects. Interesting experiments conducted on these species have
confirmed that crows can keep a count of up to three [6]. In one such
experiment, first, one person was sent up a tree where a crow couple
was taking care of their offspring. The couple flew away to a nearby

1
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2 The Story of Numbers

tree and kept watching their nest. They returned as soon as the person
came down. Then two persons were sent up one after another. When
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the first person came down, the crows waited and returned only after
the second person came down after sometime. Then three persons
went up one after another and came down one after another with
some time gap. The crows waited until all the persons came down.
But with more than three persons sent up the tree one after another,
the crows returned as soon as the third person came down implying
that now they had lost count.
It has been confirmed that parrots, squirrels and chimps can be
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trained to keep a count of up to six. Pickover [27] mentions desert

ants in Sahara that appear to have a built-in “computer” that counts
their steps as they go out to a fairly large distance for collecting food.
They bring back the collected food to their nests. Experiments were
conducted by shortening and lengthening their strides after the food
was collected. Towards this end, the leg lengths of the ants were
manipulated, shortened by amputating and lengthened by adding
stilts. With shortened strides it was noticed that the ants started search-
ing for their nests way before reaching the destination. On the other
hand, with longer strides they continued to move, going past their
nests. Thus it appears that the process of counting in some form in
terms of natural numbers exists in nature without human intervention.
One of the greatest advances in mathematics took place when
the domain of positive integers, or natural numbers, was extended
by introducing another integer as zero (with the current symbol 0).
A vast literature exists on the history and significance of zero [17,
33]. Without getting into the intricacies of this great idea, we just
notice that 0 is used both as an even number and a digit. As implied
in the title of reference [17], zero as a number means “nothing”.
Counting starts from 1 and 0 signifies absence. In a lighter vein,
we refer to the following story of a kindergarten kid. When asked
to name five animals of Africa, the kid answered three lions and
two elephants. The teacher was not satisfied and said, “You have not
named five animals.” The stubborn kid continued: “OK — three lions,
two elephants, zero zebras, zero giraffe and zero deer and now I have
named five animals”! Mathematically, the new answer just suggests
that zebra, giraffe and deer are not to be found in Africa.
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Introduction 3

Ancient Indian mathematicians are credited for the invention of

zero and the introduction of the now universally accepted Hindu–
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Arabic system of writing numbers which is so much superior to other

systems that were used in different civilisations. The Indian math-
ematician Sridhara laid down the rules for arithmetical operations
involving the number zero.
Natural numbers are unending or limitless. In mathematics, we
use a symbol ∞ to express the unlimited infinity. This symbol was
first used by Wallis in 1655 and mathematicians have used it ever
since. Just as on zero, a vast literature also exists related to this
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abstract mathematical idea [8]. Even religious mysticism is connected

to this mathematical concept of infinity [12]. Infinities appear in
different contexts in different areas of mathematics. It has also been
established that not all infinities are of the same order and there
exist methods to compare different orders of infinities. Again without
going into any further details, we now describe how zero and infinity
are literally opposite poles in the theory of stereographic projections
developed by Riemann [33]. Imagine a translucent sphere placed on
an infinite horizontal plane. A point light source is placed at the top
most point (the North Pole) of the sphere. Every point on the surface
of the sphere casts its shadow on the horizontal plane. There exists
a one-to-one correspondence between a point on the sphere and its
shadow. The shadow of the bottom most point (the South Pole) is at
the coincident point with the plane, i.e., the point of contact between
the sphere and the plane. We consider this point as the origin or zero.
The shadows of the points which are near the light source are very
far off from this origin. The point corresponding to all the points at
infinity (in every direction) is the North Pole. Thus the zero and the
infinity are literally the opposite poles, zero at the South Pole and
infinity at the North Pole.
It is mentioned in “The Book of Numbers”a that many math-
ematicians, especially those working with infinities, prefer to start
counting from zero rather than one. For example, Cantor did it while

a J. H. Conway and R. K. Guy (1995). The Book of Numbers. New York: Copernicus,
Springer-Verlag.
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4 The Story of Numbers

devising methods of counting different infinities. Automatic counting

machines, unless otherwise taught, also start counting from zero.
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A three-digit ticket dispenser shows first 1000 tickets numbered as

000 to 999. The digital display of an odometer (used in a car) shows
00000 to 99999 to indicate the beginnings of the first to hundred
thousandth kilometre.
Starting from non-negative integers, using one or more of the
direct (like addition, multiplication, exponentiation) and/or inverse
(like subtraction, division, root extraction) arithmetical operations
on these, different types of other numbers have been created.
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These “unnatural” numbers, not to be found anywhere in nature,

are abstract products of the human imagination. For example,
negative integers −1, −2, −3, . . . have been created to make sense of
subtracting a bigger positive integer from a smaller one. Arithmetic
rules for handling positive and negative numbers were laid down
by the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta. Of course, a negative
number signifying the quantity of a natural object, like the number of
bees, was regarded as meaningless. But in one instance, a negative
distance was interpreted as a distance measured in the opposite
direction.
Besides negative integers, these man-made numbers include
rational, irrational, transcendental, imaginary, complex, dual, hyper-
real, p-adic numbers and quaternions, and so on. Mathematicians
unravel the mysteries of all such numbers. They also enjoy deci-
phering special characteristics of certain numbers in each category.
The language of mathematics, created by using different types of
numbers, has been most profitably used by natural scientists. They
have used this language to express their ideas clearly, concisely and
quantitatively. Famous physicist Wigner was surprised at this “unrea-
sonable success of (man-made) mathematics towards describing and
understanding the working of nature”.
In this short story of numbers, we discuss various types of numbers
and mention special types and characteristics of some well-known
and some not-so-well-known numbers. The objective is not to discuss
serious mathematics, but point out curious things about numbers
which are expected to be recreational for lay persons (amateurs)
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Introduction 5

having an interest in something mathematical. High school students,

who regularly use numbers, may find some new and interesting
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information which is not available in textbooks of mathematics.

It must be admitted that serious mathematics requires rigorous
treatment of every concept. Even natural numbers have Dedekind’s
set-theoretic and Peano’s axiomatic definitions and the naïve set
theory may not suffice. The development of every concept follows
a strict logical sequence. But sometimes this process is abandoned.
In the introduction of a classical text in mathematics, entitled “Num-
bers”,b it was conceded that logically the last chapter of the book
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should have been the first chapter. But the decision was to follow an
age-old advice of not to begin at the beginning, as it is always the
most difficult part. About rigour in mathematics, sometimes famous
mathematicians also make jokes. It is said that too much rigour
may cause rigor mortis to set in stopping all movements. To quote
V. I. Arnold, “mathematicians do not understand a sentence like ‘Bob
washed his hands’. They would rather simply say, ‘There exists a time
interval (t1 , 0) in which the natural mapping t → Bob(t) represents
a set of people with dirty hands and there is another interval [0, t2 )
where the same mapping denotes a set complementary to the one
considered earlier.’ ”
Jokes apart, it may be mentioned at this stage, that numbers were
not always at the centre of all of mathematics. Greek geometers, like
Pythagoreans, founded their mathematics on the abstract concepts of
points and lines. They were interested in investigating the properties
of shapes and sizes. Numbers were used to express various measures
like the length of a line or the area enclosed by a geometrical figure
or the volume of a solid.
Geometry was held in very high esteem by great minds. Galileo
said that the secrets of nature are written in the language of
geometry. At the entrance of Plato’s academy it was inscribed “Let
no one ignorant of geometry enter here”. In a late nineteenth

b H. D. Ebbinghaus, H. Hermes, F. Hirzebruch, M. Koecher, K. Mainzer, J. Neukrich,

A. Prestel and R. Remmert (1991). Numbers. New York: Springer.
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6 The Story of Numbers

century senate meeting of Yale University, some members were

criticising replacement of courses in classics and languages by those
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in mathematics and science. Gibbs, a man of few words, got up

and said “Gentlemen what are we discussing? Mathematics is a
language.” However, it may also be mentioned that not all great
men were so kind to mathematics and mathematicians. Goethe said,
“Mathematicians are like Frenchmen. Whatever you say to them,
they translate into their own language, and forthwith it is something
entirely different.” It is not clear whether he was more disgusted with
Frenchmen or mathematicians.
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Geometry and not arithmetic being the basis of Greek mathe-

matics, geometrical construction with a compass and a straight edge
was a necessary precondition for any arithmetic operation to be
acceptable. Even with the idea of a point, the idea of zero was absent.
Negative numbers were not imagined either, as a line of negative
length could not be drawn. Rational numbers posed no difficulty
as these could be easily obtained by geometrically drawing equal
divisions of a straight line of integer length. Even taking the positive
square root of a positive number was an acceptable mathematical
√
operation. For a given value of x, the value of x can be constructed
as described below [24, 26].
Referring to Figure 1.1, let the length of the line AB be unity which
defines the scale of the diagram. The line AB is extended up to the
point C so that BC represents the given number x in the scale of the
drawing. A semicircle is drawn with AC as its diameter. The line BD
perpendicular to AC intersects the semicircle at D. Then, BD is the

Figure 1.1.
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Introduction 7

√
required value of x. Using similar triangles ABD and BDC (note
that ∠ABD = ∠CBD, ∠ADB = ∠DCB), we can write
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BD BC
=
AB BD
or, BD2 = AB · BC
√ √
or, BD = BC = x.
Pythagoreans were really shocked and devastated when they
realised that irrational numbers exist. But the construction of irrational
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numbers and hence their existence could not be denied.

Pythagoreans, who did not have number symbols, classified
numbers according to the geometrical figures that could be drawn
by regular arrangements of pebbles or dots on the floor or on the
sand. Following this idea, numbers 3, 6, 10, . . . were called triangular
numbers [18] (see Figure 1.2). Similarly 4, 9, 16, . . . were called
square numbers (see Figure 1.3). It is easy to note that the triangular
numbers can be expressed as n(n + 1)/2, with n representing a
natural number. It may be pointed out that this formula includes the
number 1, which indicates a single point that is unable to define any
shape. The square numbers can be written as m2 , with m representing
a natural number.
It is interesting to note that mathematical relationships were
derived using Figures 1.2 and 1.3. For example, by drawing an
inclined line on one side of the diagonal (and parallel to it) of a

Figure 1.2.
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8 The Story of Numbers

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Figure 1.3.
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square number, indicated by solid lines in Figures 1.3(b) and 1.3(c),

one concludes that every square number is a sum of two consecutive
triangular numbers. Likewise, by drawing a vertical and a horizontal
line, indicated by dashed lines again in Figure 1.3(c), it is easy to
obtain (m + 1)2 = m2 + 2m + 1. Similarly, by counting the dots (or
pebbles) along the diagonal and along lines parallel to the diagonal
in Figures 1.3(a)–1.3(c), one can derive the well-known sum of an AP
series as follows:

22 = 1 + 2 + 1
32 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 1
42 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1
..
.
n2 = 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n + · · · + 3 + 2 + 1
1 (n − 1)n
or, 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + (n − 1) = (n2 − n) = .
2 2

At this stage we may point out that, besides the trivial solution 1,
the following set of infinite numbers, 36(n = 8, m = 6), 1225(n = 49,
m = 35), 41616(n = 288, m = 204), and so on, can be considered as
both triangular and square numbers. In 1733, Leonhard Euler posed
the question “For what values of n, are the triangular numbers also
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Introduction 9

square numbers”? He also provided the answerc “Triangular num-

bers with n = 1, 8, 49, 288, 1681, 9800, etc., are square numbers
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corresponding to m = 1, 6, 35, 204, 1189, 6930, etc., respectively.”

In the incredible, wonderful world of numbers, mathematicians
discover mysterious connections. For example all the values of m,
for which m2 are also triangular numbers, mentioned above, can be
obtained from the following continued fraction

1
1
(1.1)
6−
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1
6−
6− 1
6−···

By truncating this continued fraction at various stages, we get the

so-called rational convergents, which are seen to be

1 1 6 1 35
, 1
= , 1
= , and so on.
6 6− 35 6 − 204
6 6− 16

Now we can observe that the numerator and the denominator

of each of these rational convergents, viz., 1, 6, 35, 204, give the
required values of m. The same process continues for ever to yield all
the infinite values of m, for which m2 are also triangular numbers [20].
The continued fraction (1.1) was given by the Indian mathemat-
ical genius S. Ramanujan. Kanigel [16] tells us the following story.
In December 1914, Ramanujan was asked by P. C. Mahalanobis
(founder of the Indian Statistical Institute) to solve a puzzle, that
appeared in a magazine. The puzzle stated that n houses on one side
of a street are numbered sequentially starting from 1. The sum of the
house-numbers on the left of a particular house having the number
m equals that of the houses lying on the right of this particular house.
With the value of n lying between 50 and 500, one has to determine
the values of m and n.

c C. E. Sandifer (2007). The Early Mathematics of Leonhard Euler, The MAA Tercentary
Euler Celebration. Washington D.C.: The Mathematical Association of America.
pp. 102–105.
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10 The Story of Numbers

According to the puzzle, we can write

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1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + (m − 1) = (m + 1) + (m + 2) + · · · + n
m(m − 1) (n − m)(m + n + 1)
or, =
2 2
n(n + 1)
or, m2 = . (1.2)
2
Thus we get back the question posed by Euler regarding the
triangular and square numbers. With 50 < n < 500, there is a
unique answer with m = 204 and n = 288 (see above Euler’s list).
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See Appendix A for solution of equation (1.2).

Ramanujan while stirring vegetables over the gas fire, rattled
out the continued fraction (1.1) giving all the infinite values of m.
When asked how he had obtained all the values of m, he answered
“Immediately I heard the problem it was clear that the solution should
obviously be a continued fraction; I then thought which continued
fraction? And the answer came to my mind.”
Ramanujan possibly got the first two values, namely 1 and 6,
mentally. This is not difficult; the corresponding values of n are
1 and 8, respectively. The sums of the house-numbers on either side
of the particular house come out as 0 and 15, respectively. Then it is
only the genius Ramanujan, who can make the leap to construct the
continued fraction (1.1) using only the numbers 1 and 6 to give all
the solutions!