This was interesting. I’ve never thought of why numbers are like they are…they just always have been that way. But there IS a reason they look like they do. I got the basics from a blog by Jason King…but here’s the gist of it without all of the annoying ads…
Do you know why numbers look like they do? Someone, at some point in time, had to create their shapes and meaning.
Our numbers are originall based on Arabic numbers which were originally created a very long time ago and what logic the people that created them used to determine their shapes. It is really very simple and quite creative.
You have to admire the intelligence of a person who created something so simple and perfect that it has lasted for thousands and thousands of years and probably will never change.
The numbers we write are made up of algorithms, (1, 2, 3, 4, etc) called arabic algorithms, to distinguish them from the roman algorithms (I; II; III; IV; etc.).
The arabs popularised these algorithms, but their origin goes back to the phenecian merchants that used them to count and do their commercial contability.
But how did they come up with the idea that a 1,2,3,4 etc would look the way they did – the explanation is very simple and brilliant – the way they are written is because of the angles contained in each number.
You will notice that the 7 has a line through the middle of it. That was the way the Arabic 7 was originally written, and in Europe and certain other areas they still write the 7 that way, in fact I still write the 7 with a line through it – this is probably because I am getting ancient but also when I was at school a teacher wrote it that way and I wanted to be all cool and hip so started writing it that way. Also, in the military they commonly write it that way. Now you know why.
The nine has a kind of a curly tail on it which has been reduced for the most part nowadays to a simple curve, but the original logic involved still applies.
How good is that!!