Just because you see a number like 100,000 doesn’t mean it’s actually 100,000. We operate in a base-10 numeral system, and it’s got the familiar 10-based decimal root — and “decimal” even comes from the Greek “deca” prefix meaning 10. But… not everyone thinks of the world in tens. Mainland Europeans used dozens, the Chinese and Mayans and Cherokee used the vigesimal base-20 system, and remnants of the sexagesimal base-60 system is what gives us 60 minutes and 360 degrees in a circle.
There are lots and lots of ways to count and express number, and the simple system we have today is a beautiful conglomerate of thousands of years of experimentation.
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