I thought the west used arabic numbers. I was wrong. The numbers in arabic are represented by different symbols. Who knew?
That would be ok, if they some of them didn’t look like the numbers used in the west.
A “5” is a “0”, a “6” is a “7” and a “7” is a “V”, a “0” is a “.” a “4” is “E”. gah.
5 replies on “Arabic numbers”
So, what yer sayin’ is that WE use “Arabic numbers” and the Arabs don’t. Must be the danged English majors that did that to us.
actually, our numbers are originally from the Hindu numerals. The arabs introduced the Hindu numbers to europe and they are sometimes called “western arabic”.
Does using fingers to indicate quantity result in any obscene gestures? Why am I always so interested in obscene jestures?
At least they *have* a zero. The Great Roman Empire never figured that one out! And of course Algebra is an Arabic word. Do they do a lot word problems in Egypt?
@Gary: For the record, “Zero” was invented by INDIANS