Why are there two forms or the number 4 and where did they come from?
(And if anyone wants to hijack, can you tell me how the hell people do the artwork I’ve seen. I made an attempt but it wasn’t pretty.)
Why are there two forms or the number 4 and where did they come from?
(And if anyone wants to hijack, can you tell me how the hell people do the artwork I’ve seen. I made an attempt but it wasn’t pretty.)
Don’t know about 4s but there are also two sevens, the “normal” one, and one with a little crossbar about half way up the leg; and two zeros, with and without the sorta diagonal crossbar. I believe the crossbar zero is a way to differentiate from the letter O - and is more in use now with computers?
You are correct about the zero with a diagonal slash, it is used for
(1) Ordinary usage: to differentiate the digit zero from the letter “O”.
(2) It has a distinct meaning in mathematics as shorthand notation for the null set, which in some common usages, can be treated the same as the number zero.
I don’t know the complete history of the numeral 4, but I think it’s worth pointing out that almost every letter and symbol we use has multiple forms.
I suppose it just came along as various calligraphers and type founders throughout history decided to get creative.
Most characters have different forms. They just developed with use.
In China sometimes I express surprise at, what I see as different characters are just different forms of the “same” character. When I question them about this they always point out we do the same with letters and numbers. All different forms of the letter “A” seem to have the same “A” nature to me but look totally different to someone from a culture with different writing.
I suppose Arabic and other scripts also have many different forms for the same character.
Lessee:
0: with slash and without slash
1: with flag and without flag
2: with loop and without loop
3: I’ve seen it with a flat top, like a 5
4: As stated by the OP
5: Not too much differentiation
6: Not too much differentiation
7: With and without crossbar
8: Written, I’ve seen the “figure 8” and the “double zero”
9: Not too much differentiation
I certainly hope this is useful to discussion.
I think there could be two forms of 6 and 9: a child (I know I did) could straighten the tops instead of rounding them, making a “6” look like a “b” and a “9” look like a “q.”
For some reason I thought the “open” 4 provided improved clarity. Less likely to be misread as a 9 in such things as bookkeeping and drafting.
Dunno where this impression of mine came from, or whether open or closed 4s came first.
My guess is that the original form was the closed, triangular one, and that the open-top 4 was invented for LC and LED displays. Can anyone find a usage of the open 4 predating such devices?
this opens another interesting topic which is how the characters are written. We do not care how you write it as long as it looks the way it’s supposed to but the Chinese characters have an order for every stroke and the number and order of the strokes are defined.
Now, I write a 4 in two strokes, first the left angle, then the vertical stroke. It is very easy that the 4 would be left open or closed even if you didn’t intend it that way. OTOH, you will never see a 4 with the leftmost angle open because this one is done in one continous stroke.
Are we off track here and the OP is asking why there is a
FOR
and
FOUR ??
If so… I dunno. I guess the same reason there is TO, TOO, and TWO.
I will now shut up and crawl back under my rock from whence I came.
bernse, it’s spelled FORE!
This page shows some fonts that are based on a 1923 workbook for the Palmer Method of Business Handwriting (which was commonly taught in the US). As you can see, the “open” four was taught.
I would also guess, as Dinsdale said, the “open” four used because it couldn’t be confused with a nine. As sailor stated, when trying to make a “closed” four, it’s easy for it to end up “open” anyway, particularly if it’s written quickly. Perhaps it was easier to teach young children to make an “open” four, as they don’t tend to have well-developed hand-eye coordination.
Doh!
Doe!!!
Dough!!!
I thought (and was taught, so it’s not just me) that the empty set was represented by the Greek letter phi, which while similar is not the slashed-0 character at all. If memory serves, phi is drawn as a circle with a vertical line through it.
I am open to the very distinct possibility that I am wrong.
Back in 1979 when I was in the Army (way before I realized the Navy’s the place to be), I had the MOS of 75B (Personnel Administration Specialist), aka SIDPERS Clerk. We 75B were taught to write the zero with a slash and to underline the letter O and the letter S. Underlining the letters served to differentiate them from the numerals which they resemble.
>> Doh!
I resemble that! Please show some respect!
There is a difference between the two. My guess is that you learned the phi usage in a programming or similar setting (such as this) where interchanging the two was a useful convention. However, if we turn to the Unicode character set, which has been extensively discussed and commented as an open source project before approval, we find character 2205, “Ø” labelled as the empty set.
Everyone probably knows this, but, the reason the 7 is sometimes drawn with the crossbar is to distinguish it from the 1.
I was always told that making the 7 with the crossbar (as well as the letter Z) was the “European” way, and you aren’t supposed to use it “unless you’re in Europe.” I don’t know exactly what this means, though.