But that's what they they were designed for. The first "numbers" were arguably clay tokens meant to represent goods in storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His

But that's what they they were designed for. The first "numbers" were arguably clay tokens meant to represent goods in storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_numeral_systems#Clay_token https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_numeral_sys... Numbers were and are primarily used for accounting purposes. If they didn't accurately represent the change in your pocket then the system would be improved until it did. There's nothing magical about it.