SEMANTIC ENIGMAS

Why are arabic numerals so called when they look nothing like arabic numbers?

Harry Kope, Victoria, Canada

  • Most of the numeral symbols we use do look like Arabic numbers. In Arabic script, 1 is a vertical stroke, 2 and 3 are like 2 and 3 on their sides, and 7 is a V-shaped symbol; like 2 and 3, our 7 is the Arabic symbol rotated anti-clockwise through 90 degrees. 9 is identical, while zero is a dot - basically a small filled circle. Only the symbols for 4, 5, 6 and 8 are essentially unlike their counterparts in the 'Arabic' numeral system we use in written English.

    Dominic Watt, Leeds

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