The Babylonians used separate combinations of two symbols to represent every single number from 1 to 59. That sounds pretty confusing, doesn’t it? Our decimal system seems simple by comparison ...

The new policy reflects the need to deal with a scarcity of 480 numbers, with still-ample numbers in the other two Phoenix area codes, especially 623.

As phones grew more popular, the manual-switchboard system became automated and the number system went from regional to national, with a longer set of numbers and the introduction of area codes.

In case you haven't noticed, Porsche has a particularly confusing number system for its cars. It's not gibberish, though, and there's a way to decipher it.