pass array to jquery for ajax processing

pass array to jquery for ajax processing

I have form elements:
<tr><td>Number</td><td><input type='text' name='number[]'
id='number[]'></td></tr>
<tr><td>Number</td><td><input type='text' name='number[]'
id='number[]'></td></tr>
I want to pass the values of this array to jquery for ajax processing.
jquery doesnt like $('#numbers[]') as an id.
I have also tried
for (a = 0;$a<5;$a++)
{
<tr><td>Number</td><td><input type='text' name='number[$a]'
id='number[$a]'></td></tr>
}
but that doesnt work either.
alert($(#'numbers['+i+']').val();
fails as well...