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Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher who made important developments in mathematics, astronomy, and the theory of music. The theorem now known as Pythagoras's theorem was known to the Babylonians 1000 years earlier but he may have been the first to prove it.

Click on picture for more study into Pythagoras and his ideology.

Pythagoras  had argued that "all is number" and the universe was made up of finite
natural numbers.

A number is an abstract idea used in counting and measuring. A symbol which represents a number is called a numeral, but in common usage the word number is used for both the idea and the symbol. Numbers can be classified into sets, called number systems.  Also, natural, integers, real, irrational, rational, negative, complex, prime, transcendental, superreal, hyperreal, surreal, imaginary, etc., are all used to describe and refer to numbers. 

The subject matter of numbers is so deep and wide in human history that it includes almost all thought processes in philosophy, physics, sciences, hypotheses' and concepts.  The idea that "math is "conceptual" could not be a truer statement! 

USE OF NUMBERS

It is speculated that the first known use of numbers dates back to around 30000 BC, bones or other artifacts have been discovered with marks cut into them which are often considered tally marks. The use of these tally marks have been suggested to be anything from counting elapsed time, such as numbers of days, or keeping records of amounts.  Perhaps our phrase "are you keeping tally" had its origins in antiquity!

It is sufficient to note that since the beginning of recorded numbers and history of mankind , humans have  endeavored to understand the very nature of the universe and knowable things in terms of "numbers",  mathematics and physics, of the latter, numbers being the root.


ONTOLOGY

In philosophy, ontology is the study of being or existence and forms the basic subject matter of metaphysics. It seeks to describe or posit the basic categories and relationships of being or existence to define entities and types of entities within its framework. Ontology can be represented as a search for an answer to the question "What is the nature of the knowable things?".


METAPHYSICS

The first major work in the history of philosophy to bear the title "Metaphysics" was the treatise by Aristotle that we have come to know by that name.  Meta" in Greek means over, and --- since when you jump over something you find yourself behind or after it --- it is also understood as behind and after.

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world.  The purpose of metaphysics, which is to reach beyond nature (physis) as we perceive it, and to discover the "true nature" of things, their ultimate essence and the reason for being.

Philosophies traditionally start with a metaphysics principles that organize the universe. Metaphysics is supposed to answer the question "What is the nature of reality?"


OCKAM'S RAZOR

Ockam's razor  is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.

Distilled, the "theory of succinctness" is  often paraphrased as "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one," or alternately, "the simplest explanation tends to be the right one." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest hypothetical entities. It is in this sense that Ockam's razor is usually understood.


PRINCIPAL OF THE GREEK "ARETHMOI"

The  Pythagoreans postulated the  Greek theory of arethmoi, by endeavoring to understand  the "order of the heavens", concluding that  "the being of all things is number".  So counting, or the act of being counted,  became  associated with being itself and behavior -  a metaphysical concept.



BIBLICAL BOOK OF NUMBERS

The Book of Numbers is the fourth of the books of the Pentateuch,  which translates to in the desert. In the Septuagint , Greek version it is  called Arithmoi, or Latin Numeri - the usual title of the book is Numbers.  The  Book of Numbers contains a record of the numbering of the people in the wilderness of Sinai (1-4), and of their numbering afterwards on the plain of Moab (26).

Sumerians and Babylonians were the first people to develop the written number system - at least that is what we now think as there aren't any older surviving documents which contain what we might consider to be numbers.
They used stylus made of reed to write cuneiform symbols onto a wet clay tablet, which later they baked if they wished to preserve what was written on it.