Every creature counts. The number of mouths to be fed, the number of toes on a foot. Counting is the basis of time and of age. Counting has a meaning beyond numeracy – to matter. A Count In Continental Europe is someone who ‘matters’. In every way, counting counts. To be numerate is to enable you to weigh up, assess and evaluate things of importance. You can keep time. You may even become wealthy. Numeracy counts.
The first electronic calculator was launched when I was nineteen. I regard it as one of the blessings of my life that it was not earlier. Through my school years I had to be able to add, subtract, divide and multiply. It has been one of the most useful lessons of my life. A wonderful man called Bert Howells taught me ‘beer-handle’ algebra. I thank his spirit daily.
You can become numerate at any stage of life and from any position of innumeracy. You won’t if you are frightened of figures. Like every other demon we have to deal with, the numbers demon is far less awesome than it at first appears. Think of it this way. Numbers are simply an early form of code. Instead of saying ‘this, this, this, and this’ we say ‘four’. Brief, neat, clean and easily understood. As with every shortcut code, we must become familiar with it.
Watch a professional wine taster at work. S/He smells the bouquet, toggles the wine around the glass to have a good look at its colour, tastes a little, letting the tastebuds learn the quality, and then spits it out. We can do the same with numbers. Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, saw that numbers could represent music, art, and imagination. Einstein said that numbers are “the language in which God has written the universe.” Make friends with numbers. I do. At present I am having a cuddle with 94 – you can probably guess why.
Count everything. The number of paces you take from one point to another. The times your mobile nudges you to respond in an hour. Start forecasting how many flashes of lightning there will be in a transient thunder storm. The frequency with which the reporter says ‘you know’ when telling you of the latest White House debacle. Forecasting is the quickest way to become comfortable with numbers. Don’t worry that you get it wrong. Practice will improve the score.
Numbers can be used as a discipline, too. I do my exercise by numbers but have taught myself to think of other subjects at the same time – a sort of Mobile Meditating Mindwork. The number counting in the background and the creative testing ahead keep me enthusiastically occupied and determined to complete the course.
The temptation with numbers is to think that more is better. Our natural competitive spirit plus the greed that is inherent in most people combine to make bigger numbers appealing. One strawberry isn’t much; twenty is better; two thousand is hospital. So numbers, like everything else, need to be balanced. It is likely that as you get older, smaller numbers will appeal to you better. Two million contacts with little communication do not add up to two friends who stay in touch. Kingsley Amis said “more means worse”. Not necessarily, but it’s a good thought to keep in mind. Especially in this era of multifarious data.
Make friends with numbers. They can be very helpful.
Pick your number.
Good morning
John Bittleston
Are you happy with numbers? If so, please share the secret of that with us at [email protected].
23 November 2025
