Numbers are abstract signifiers of quantitative differentiation corresponding to sensorial experience.
An organism starts out without a clear understanding of the subject/object relationship; it exists as a non-dual ambiguity.
Once sense input receives more information over time, the organism develops a sense of self, that is to say, an understanding
of the subject/object relationship ( self and alterity ). This is the start of differentiation, which leads to the abstract knowledge of numbers.
Numbers delineate differentiation into an abstract unity of organization. Organizing otherness into quantitative discrete parts assists in a calculating
scheme for maneuvering through space/time.
Numbers are noetic symbols, not physical properties in the external world.
They are human, mental constructs meant to organize varying sense data into a sequential unity.
Many mathematicians will have you believe that they exist objectively, but such ridiculousness is nothing more than the deification of their profession.
An all-too-human tendency to anthropomorphize.
