Atharvaveda Part 1

Arithmetic: Numbers and decimal system

The names for the numbers one to nine found in Rig Veda are eka, dve, tri,
chatur, pancha, shat, sapta, ashta, nava. The names for ten, twenty......, ninety
occur in RV (2.18.5-6). The intermediate numbers have appropriate names. For
instance ninety-four is termed four plus ninety. Nineteen is expressed one less
than twenty etc. RV (3.9.9) has a number 3339 spelled as three thousand, three
hundred and thirty nine. Rig Veda has more than a hundred references to
numbers.

The Shukla Yajurveda (17.2) mentions the numbers upto ten raised to the power
of 12 in steps of powers of 10, namely ayuta (104), niyuta (105), payuta (106)
arbuda (107), nyarbuda (108), samudra (109), madhya (1010), anta (1011),
parardha (1012), etc. A similar list in Taittiriiya Samhita [Krishna Yajur Veda]
(4.4.11) and (7.2.20.1). Maitrayani Samhita 2.8.12; Kathaka Samhita (17.10)
etc.

The Atharvaveda Samhita (6.25.1 thru 6.25.3, 7.4.1) specially emphasizes the
common relationship between one and ten, three and thirty, five and fifty, nine
and ninety, clearly indicating that the persons of the Vedic age had a good grasp
of the basics of decimal system for positive integers. The number four three two
(four hundred and thirty two) million occurring frequently in Sanskrit works occurs in
Atharva Veda (8.3.21).

shatam te ayutam hyanan dwai trini chatvari krama

Ayuta is ten thousand and shatam cha ayutam is one million. The number is read
in reverse order by the standard convention.