# the numbers game **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124 "2003-09-02T13:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![littlemissk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@littlemissk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/littlemissk)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/1 "2003-09-02T13:36:37Z")
OK… I may be wrong, but it occured to me this morning that while there are many different languages and alphabets in use around the world, there is only two systems of numbering that i can think of - roman numerals and the standard 1,2,3 etc… Am i wrong? And if i’m not , then why is there such a small selection? ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/2 "2003-09-02T14:10:34Z")
There are many, many more. The Arabic system of numbering (1,2,3…) has so many advantages that it pretty much swept the world. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/3 "2003-09-02T14:19:18Z")
1,2,3 is the Arabic or Indian numbering system. Binary (1,10,11,100,101,111, etc…) and hexadecimal (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10,11,etc…) are both commonly use esp. in computer programing. The ancient Summerian’s used a base-60 numbering system which is why there are 60 minutes in an hour. ---
**Author:** ![littlemissk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@littlemissk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/littlemissk)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/4 "2003-09-02T14:44:40Z")
do they all use the same ‘alphabet’ (numerbet???) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/5 "2003-09-02T15:08:26Z")
Funny that they call it Arabic. The system is the same but the numerals look different in Arabic, and the Arabs got it from India. [http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Ref6.htm](http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Ref6.htm) ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/6 "2003-09-02T15:26:10Z")
No littlemissk. The Arabic system spread throughout the world because of its advantages. You probably don’t think of a number system as having advantages but consider this: Which is the biggest number? Quick you only have 1 second! V VIII III XVII CI In the Arabic system, you can easily and extremely quickly tell the ‘size’ of the number. Also QUICK! VIII times VI QUICK QUICK! 😛 ok, You got that one, now try this: Multiple LXIV and CVIII. Go ahead, use pencil and paper but no writing or thinking with Arabic numbers 🙂 CookingwithGas, I don’t know either, but I think the Arabs were the main method of contact with the Arabic system and so that is why the name stuck. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/7 "2003-09-02T16:15:50Z")
I believe the Babolonyians (lord what spelling) used little wedge marks that pointed in any of the 4 directions. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/8 "2003-09-02T16:21:23Z")
> [@](#): > > do they all use the same ‘alphabet’ (numerbet???) No. A lot of languages that don’t use the Roman alphabet also don’t use Western-style “Arabic” numerals. As well as the Arabic numerals used in the Middle East as mentioned by **CookingWithGas** , different numerals are used in - off the top of my head - Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos), and Ethiopia. I’m sure there are others. Ah ha. Yes there are. This page has a load of them: [http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lang\_e/figure.html](http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lang_e/figure.html) Depending on what fonts you have installed, you might not be able to see some of them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/9 "2003-09-02T17:02:01Z")
The Greeks, like the Romans, used letters for numbers, but they used their own alphabet, and they used it differently. Alpha = 1, beta = 2, … iota (the ninth letter) = 9, kappa = 10, lambda = 20, mu = 30… sigma = 90, tau = 100, upsilon = 200, phi = 300, etc. To form a number, you would take the letter for the ones place (if any), the letter for the tens place, and so on, and added them all together. So 223, for instance, would be upsilon lambda gamma (I’m unsure of the order, there). The Hebrews used a similar system, using their own alphabet (I’m not sure who got the system from whom). Since any combination of letters could be either a word or a number, it became tempting to look for patterns in the numbers associated with words, and forms of numerology were very popular with both the Greeks and the Hebrews. The ancient Mayans, like the Arabic system, had place value, but they used base 20 and only three symbols: A dot, a horizontal line, and something that looked like an Easter egg. You formed the digits from 1 to 19 using dots and lines: A single dot was the symbol for “1”, two dots for “2”, four dots for “4”, etc. Whenever you would have five dots, you replace them with a line. So the numeral for “10” would be two hoizontal lines, and “17” would be two dots on top of three horizontal lines. The Easter-egg thingy was zero, and numbers larger than 20 were formed using a place-value system very similar to how we make numbers larger than 10. And the Babylonians used little wedge-marks (called cuineform) for all of their writing, as **muttrox** said (that being the easiest sort of mark to make in wet clay), but I don’t remember how in particular their number system worked. ---
**Author:** ![littlemissk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@littlemissk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/littlemissk)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbers-game/199124/10 "2003-09-03T11:40:01Z")
you are indeed, all geniuses! 😃