The purpose of the workshop presented here was to show how the history of numbers and computation is essential to mathematical teaching and learning. One obvious benefit is that children learn to appreciate human ingenuity through the ages, which in itself is fascinating. The main benefit, however, will be that they will follow a natural sequence of learning through the invention of their own written and mental processes .This is in sharp contrast with the all too familiar repetitive exercises and memorization of facts and techniques. Ultimately, children should develop a deeper and more meaningful conceptual understanding. The article summarizes the history of the figures and calculations from about 50 000 BC to this century, and proposes to use a « super abacus » inspired by that of Gerbert d’Aurillac around the year 999, which is not described here.