Number is an interesting thing. In mathematics it
is the structure that we apply to the idea of quantity, making it sit
in nice neat rows. In linguistics, it’s a grammatical feature in
which words mutate depending on how many (of whatever) they or
another word relate to. We have our system of ‘arabic’ numerals,
more properly known as hindu-arabic numerals (represented using
different symbols in different scripts, but sharing the essential
system of placed number and associated marks to denote decimal
fractions and so on). We count things almost obsessively, at times,
with national censuses (for good reason), stock takes (also good
reason), or “notches on the belt” (or bedpost, both for less good
reason, in my opinion).
