Learning about positional number systems was definitely a challenge but one of the best "mind opening" experiences of my life. I thoroughly recommend reading ch

Learning about positional number systems was definitely a challenge but one of the best "mind opening" experiences of my life. I thoroughly recommend reading chapter 4 of Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming for the history of counting systems and notation of numbers. I didn't realise how much of what I thought I knew about counting was tied to decimal notation.