numeral

=Numeral=

toc Read here about numerals as opposed to number. An awareness of the difference is important as we search for "good numbers" to understand different scales.

=Overview= A number is a purely conceptual entity, signified by a signifier, being a numeral encoded in a physical marker. In linguistic terms, numeral is a signifier, and number is signified. The capacity for using numerals is more complex than that for number, and only primates and humans are proven to have that capability, while many creatures show the ability to act based on the abstract idea of “number.”

Decoding numerals requires complex capabilities, as can be seen from the English “eighty-seven” vs. the French “quatre-vingt-sept” (“four-twenty-seven”) matching the elevated langauge of Lincoln’s address, “four score and seven”; similarly contrast the Hindu-Arabic notation of 87 with the Roman LXXXVII. Thus, the capacity for comprehending numerals involves a capacity for number plus two symbolic capacities— one for written numerals and one for characterizing the structure of the words for those numerals.