The unary numeral system is the bijective base-1 numeral system. It is the simplest numeral system to represent natural numbers: in order to represent a number N, an arbitrarily chosen symbol representing 1 is repeated N times. For example, using the symbol | (a tally mark), the number 6 is represented as ||||||. The Western standard method of counting on one's fingers is effectively a unary system as well as the more eastern method of counting one's finger bones (or phalanges). Unary is most useful in counting or tallying ongoing results, such as the score in a game of sports, since no intermediate results need to be erased or discarded.
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