Breakdown of Вверху страницы мы видим число.
видеть
to see
страница
page
число
number, date
вверху
at the top, above
Questions & Answers about Вверху страницы мы видим число.
I thought число meant "number". Why is it translated as "date" here?
You are right that число means "number" in a mathematical sense, but it is also the most common word used for the day of the month. For instance, the standard way to ask "What is the date today?" is Какое сегодня число?
Why is страницы in the genitive case?
The word вверху (at the top) is functioning as a spatial preposition here. In Russian, compound prepositions that specify a precise relative location (like "at the top of", "at the bottom of", or "in the middle of") require the noun that follows to be in the genitive case.
Could I use сверху instead of вверху here?
Not usually. Вверху answers the question "where?" (где?) and describes a stationary location ("at the top"). Сверху generally answers the question "from where?" (откуда?) and implies a direction ("from the top" or "from above"). Since the date is simply resting stationary on the page, вверху is the correct choice.
Why isn't the preposition на used here, since the date is "on" the page?
While you would say на странице to just say "on the page", here you are specifying a particular section: the top. Russian expresses "at the top of" with the single word вверху. You don't need an extra word for "on" or "at" because вверху already has the preposition в (in/at) built into it.
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