It's All About the Angles

Started by Beguile's Mistress, October 20, 2009, 04:21:36 PM

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Beguile's Mistress

Have you ever wondered why 1 is 1 and 2 is 2?  It's all about the angles.  If one writes the numbers down (see below) on a piece of paper in their older forms, one quickly sees why.

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http://forum.tayyar.org/f7/logic-behind-arabic-numbers-35116/



Oniya

"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
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MercyfulFate


Kate

wow i would have never guessed.

didnt know the original "7" looked like that either

Valerian

No, the original Arabic seven looked basically like the modern seven.  That's hardly changed.

Even without looking at the helpful links Oni provided, that looked like a real stretch to me.  As someone who's studied and done calligraphy, I'd never expect to find someone from a society that has only calligraphy pens and brushes available for serious writing sitting down and deliberately coming up with shapes like those.  Sharp angles are Not Fun.  The eight in particular would be unworkable.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Oniya

The ornamentation to the 7 is primarily (according to my math profs) to distinguish it from the European 1 (which has the top serif) and the > sign, all three of which can look terribly similar when written quickly.  (And they showed that to us on the chalkboard, typically with something like 71>17.)  Likewise, you'll see people that write their Z with a crossbar, which distinguishes it from a 2.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Valerian

I picked up the crossbar on the 7 when I was a kid -- I thought it looked cool -- but now I just think of it as a very useful thing to help differentiate my sevens and ones. That's probably a relatively recent addition, really, as mathematics evolved and things like 1-7 or Z-2 confusion became more and more common... though frustratingly, I haven't yet found a time period for when the crossbars started being used on sevens regularly.  Hmph.

Anyway, the fact is no one sat down and worked out a numbers system all at once -- they evolved, like any other language or alphabet, and their evolution can be traced pretty clearly.  Angles didn't enter into it.  Though I can see why it came about -- people like there to be some sort of order to these things.  :)
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE