Egyptian and Assyrian counting systems. Early methods of number counting involved the use of fingers, while early written records used strokes to indicate numbers. To improve these cumbersome systems, written signs were invented for higher numbers. Alternatively letters of the alphabet were adopted in their order as number signs. Here, examples of symbols for tens, hundreds, and thousands, are shown. Calculations remained cumbersome until the systematic use of zero as a number, pioneered in India. Table from The Story of the Alphabet (Edward Clodd, 1900).