As befitting their history, the digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are more appropriately known as Hindu or Hindu-Arabic numerals. The reason that they are more commonly known as "Arabic numerals" in Europe and the Americas is that they were introduced to Europe in the tenth century from Arabs of North Africa, who were then using the digits from Libya to Morocco.[4] Europeans did not know about the numerals' roots in ancient India, so they named them "Arabic numerals".[5] Arabs, on the other hand, call the system "Hindu numerals",[6][7] referring to their origin in India. This is not to be confused with what the Arabs call the "Hindi numerals", namely the Eastern Arabic numerals (٠.١.٢.٣.٤.٥.٦.٧.٨.٩) used in the Middle East, or any of the numerals currently used in Indian languages (e.g. Devanagari: ०.१.२.३.४.५.६.७.८.९).
Return to FunTrivia
"Ask FunTrivia" strives to offer the best answers possible to trivia questions. We ask our submitters to thoroughly research questions and provide sources where possible. Feel free to post corrections or additions. This is server B184.