Difference between revisions of "Counting"
Karl Jones (Talk | contribs) (Etc) |
Karl Jones (Talk | contribs) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting) |
||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
| − | * [ ] @ Wikipedia | + | * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting Counting] @ Wikipedia |
Revision as of 11:25, 30 August 2015
Counting is the action of finding the number of elements of a finite set of objects.
The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (mental or spoken) counter by a unit for every element of the set, in some order, while marking (or displacing) those elements to avoid visiting the same element more than once, until no unmarked elements are left; if the counter was set to one after the first object, the value after visiting the final object gives the desired number of elements.
The related term enumeration refers to uniquely identifying the elements of a finite (combinatorial) set or infinite set by assigning a number to each element.
Counting sometimes involves numbers other than one; for example, when counting money, counting out change, "counting by twos" (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, ...), or "counting by fives" (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, ...).
There is archeological evidence suggesting that humans have been counting for at least 50,000 years.
Counting was primarily used by ancient cultures to keep track of social and economic data such as number of group members, prey animals, property, or debts (i.e., accountancy).
The development of counting led to the development of mathematical notation, numeral systems, and writing.
See also
External links
- Counting @ Wikipedia
