# How do you write the number seven? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956 "2019-10-18T14:12:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/61 "2019-10-21T11:18:48Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The original Hindu 7 was written in ancient [Brahmi script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_numerals), where it resembled the modern Gujarati ੭. That looks to me like Gurmukhi, according to your list. Anyway, thanks for the info on the origins of the symbol — very cool! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/62 "2019-10-21T18:08:12Z")
You’re right, it’s Gurmukhi. I skipped a line in reading what I’d written. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/63 "2019-10-21T18:14:46Z")
Both depending on circumstances. If there’s any ambiguity I will write it the European way, but most of the time I’ll use do the Hindu way. I write very little though and the vast majority of it is numbers on credit card receipts. There’s enough context in there that I rarely use the European style. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/64 "2019-10-21T21:03:33Z")
I am incapable of writing the _number_ 7, much like being unable to write the emotion happiness. OTOH: I write the (Arabic) numeral with a slash. I write the Roman numeral VII. I write the word “seven”. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/65 "2019-10-22T01:02:00Z")
The unambiguous way, which, for some reason, this thread is calling “European.” I also slash my zeros unless I’m writing in a Nordic tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/66 "2019-10-22T01:23:48Z")
Always with a slash. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/67 "2019-10-22T02:00:09Z")
With fangs and a big muscley arm. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/68 "2019-10-22T02:36:45Z")
With a slash. As a little kid I was taught the slashless version, but when I got to high school my math teacher used the slash. I thought it looked cool so imitated him. By the time I grew up enough to realize my original motivation for using the slash was pretentious, it was no longer an affectation on my part but had become completely natural; I had also noticed that it was a good way to avoid mixing up 7s and 1s. Living outside the US most of my adult life just reinforced that the slashed version was normal. The thing I now struggle with is dates. Having mostly lived where the normal way to write a date is, for example, “21 Oct 2019,” that is the way I automatically write and have for years. But now that I’m in the US, I know that it’s not done that way and that I’m at best possibly confusing, at worst pretentious if I use the international standard. So I am trying to train myself out of it and go back to “Oct 21, 2019.” It looks weird to me though. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/69 "2019-10-31T23:56:27Z")
European. Picked up the habit in my high-school German class. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/70 "2019-11-01T01:15:28Z")
Anther possible 7, I used to have a clock (traditional 12 hours dial with hands) where the 7 had a loop at the bottom so that it was exactly like the 2 inverted. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/71 "2019-11-01T02:46:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I put a slash through my sevens 90% of the time. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/72 "2019-11-01T16:03:53Z")
I include the slash _and_ the serif on the top left. I’m pretty deliberate with all my numerals. One has serifs top and bottom; top of three is strait; four is angled, open and crossed. I don’t cross my zeroes; I couldn’t get it to look good and it reminds me of the empty set symbol, which isn’t zero. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/73 "2019-11-01T18:12:11Z")
I slash my 7s and Zs. Now my 7s are always confused with 2s. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to write a check for $.50 for my health insurance because the amount ends in .73, they read it as .23, and send me a note threatening to cancel my health insurance because I did not pay in full. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/74 "2019-11-10T18:55:17Z")
As a kid in Norway I was taught the slashed version and never stopped. I also slash zeds. My ones are just a straight line. My 4s are the upside down h of a calculator. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956/75 "2019-11-11T16:48:07Z")
For me, plain seven has no slash. Seven-bar is reserved for 7 divided by two-pi. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-write-the-number-seven/841956.md?page=3)