Re: When I count, I think of numbers as...

[jonadab]

in reply to When I count, I think of numbers as...

Am I too much of a math geek if I think of numbers as arbitrary objects, sets, functions, or variables? I guess "scalar" is the closest answer to that of the available choices...

("Sure, two plus two is four for standard values of two and four, and standard real number addition, but if two and four were operations and plus were function composition...")

[radiantmatrix]

I used "feelings", but there is really no accurate answer. See, a number is a number. If I'm counting, I think of numbers as representing the set of items I'm counting -- if I'm simply rattling off a series of numbers (counting nothing, if you will), then I'm not really thinking about what I'm doing anyhow.

Numbers are simply symbols or signifiers we've given to represent concepts of quantity; they mean nothing without a unit, really. The abstract nature of them is why I answered "feelings" -- it seemed the closest to "abstract concepts which signify quantification" ;-)