# Why do so many languages use Arabic numerals?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-languages-use-arabic-numerals/339063>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 8, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-languages-use-arabic-numerals/339063 "2006-01-08T23:17:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**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:** [January 10, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-languages-use-arabic-numerals/339063/21 "2006-01-10T06:05:03Z")

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> [@capybara](#):
>
> Well, I know no Thai, but looking at the Wikipedia article, they (like the Romans) don’t seem to use the place system in the same way that arabic numerals do, which is a great advantage of arabic numerals (the thai sign for 11, according the the little chart, has four units, while the sign for 100 has three units).

Was it [this article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_numerals)?

The numeric symbols from 0 to 9 are given in the first table. The second table does not show numeric symbols; it shows the words in the Thai language written out in Thai alphabetic letters. The way the page is put together, the author didn’t exactly make that clear. If you look closely, you can see a difference in the way the numerals are formed compared to the alpha letters. You can also match the recurring graphic patterns in the Thai words for eleven and up by comparing with their roman transliterations.

The functionality of the ten digits is exactly the same whether in Sanskrit, Thai, Arabic, or English.

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**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-languages-use-arabic-numerals/339063/22 "2006-01-10T21:25:11Z")

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Ok, that was unclear. My bad. So there is a place system.

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**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-languages-use-arabic-numerals/339063/23 "2006-01-13T20:51:56Z")

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[QUOTE=scr4]

> [@suranyi](#):
>
> As Old Guy said, Arabic numerals are by no means universal. I once knew a Persian woman; when she wrote numbers I definitely could not understand them. Caused quite a few chuckles sometimes – “Whoops, I wrote it in Persian”, she’d say./QUOTE]  
> But she had no trouble writing Arabic numerals if she chose to, right?

No real trouble, but I could see that she had to “translate” them in her mind.

Ed

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