Some remarks on numbers…

Are numbers important for the people? Yes, of course end not only for mathematicians who think: “God made natural numbers; all else is the work of man” (Leopold Kronecker - a German mathematician). As you know the natural numbers are those used for counting ("there are six apples on the table") and ordering ("this is the third largest city in the country"). In mathematics, a natural number is either a positive integer (1, 2, 3, 4, …) or a non-negative integer (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, …).

Do we know how to say and write numbers in English? I would like to write something about saying 0… 

So, depending on the context, we can pronounce zero in different ways:

2-0 (football) = Two nil

30 – 0 (tennis) = Thirty love

604 7721 (phone number) = six oh four…

0.4 (a number) = nought point four / zero point four

0C (temperature) = zero degrees

Do you agree with me that in English zero is more interesting than in Polish?

But, it’s also truth that often the numbers are too important for us : “Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.” As you surely know this is a quote from the famous novella “The Little Prince” written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1943.