WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS FOR? THE 6 MAIN USES - MATHS - 2024

The numbers serve for a myriad of tasks in the world. Numbers are involved in most processes, objects and places, although not always in an obvious way. Their main use is that they allow counting objects.

It is more difficult to find situations where numbers are not involved. These are a central part of many everyday situations in life.

For example, the routes that airplanes follow are determined by the coordinates of the Earth, which are formed from numbers; the same goes for ships and submarines, among others.

The 6 main uses of numbers

1- Count objects

From children, the first thing that is learned to do with numbers is to count objects, with which additional information is provided in different situations.

For example, in the following image there are two groups of apples.

Both groups contain apples. But when it is said that in one group there are 3 apples and in the other group there are 2 apples, a difference between the groups is being mentioned, which is the number of apples in each one.

This could be done by counting the number of apples, which is possible thanks to the numbers.

2- Operations

After learning to count, the next use of numbers that children are taught is related to algebraic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

These four operations are used every day by a very large number of people, one of the most common being to add to obtain the price to pay in a supermarket.

3- Represents the value of money

Before money existed, people carried out exchanges or barters between objects they owned.

Then money was introduced, which facilitated these types of procedures. The number that appears on each bill or coin represents its value.

So to know how much value a bill has, you just need to see the number it has; that is, the amount of monetary units that it represents.

4- Identify objects

The numbers also help identify objects. For example, the following image shows two buses.

The only difference they have is their nameplate, which has numbers on it.

Thanks to the numbers, the owner of each bus will know which one is his. The same happens, for example, with people's identity documents.

5- Binary numbers

A very common but not very obvious use is that of binary numbers. Binary numbers are represented using only zeros and ones.

For example, the number 16 in binary numbers is the number 10000.

Binary numbers are used in the world of computing. The data that computers handle internally are represented by zeros and ones, since they work with two levels of voltages.

When a computer wants to send data, this data is represented by a binary code in which zero represents one voltage level and one represents the other voltage level.

6- Measure

To measure the length of an object numbers are used in addition to the unit of measurement (meters, miles).

The same happens when you want to know the weight of an object or the air pressure that a bicycle rubber can withstand.

References

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