Only in Egypt did I realize that the “Arabic numerals” we are familiar with were actually invented in India

As a person with almost zero historical knowledge, who would have thought that he didn’t even know the word?

I never thought that after living for decades, I might not even recognize the numbers.

But this is indeed my real experience-the “Arabic numerals” used in Egypt are completely different from what we usually know.

Egyptians speak Arabic, but if you leave without doing your homework, you could have a complete meltdown while taking a taxi.

All the questions spew out at the moment of seeing the taxi on the road: What about Arabic numerals?

What are those winding license plate numbers?

Egypt’s license plate does consist of Arabic numerals, but this “Arabic numeral” is not the other “Arabic numeral”.

The Arabic numerals we learned since childhood are 1, 2, 3… so impressive that even children of several years old can recognize them.

But in Egypt, 1 is not 1, 2 is not 2-they become completely unfamiliar symbols.

 

Why do Egyptians speak Arabic when Egyptian numbers aren’t familiar Arabic numbers?

In fact, the well-known “Arabic numerals” 1, 2 and 3 originated in ancient India. From the source, it is more accurate to call them “Indian numerals”.

The reason why it was renamed “Arabic numerals” is that the Arabs spread it all over the world, and later generations called it in the name of the communicator.

Of course, Indian numerals are not the original Arabic numerical system, so “Arabic numerals” are not the same as the “Arabic numerals” used by Egyptians every day.

The local language of Egypt is self-contained, and numbers have their own way of writing. If we insist on analogy, it is probably equivalent to the difference between “one two three” and “one two three” in Chinese.

Because the numbers on the license plate are completely different from what I know, I often have to look at the comparison table of Arabic numerals in my mobile phone while trying to identify what is on the license plate.

If you encounter myopia, you have to look at it from a distance, get closer and look at it again to determine whether it is your own car.

Of course, there are several Egyptian numbers that are easy to recognize, such as 1, which is a vertical line that is not very straight.

The number 9 is also somewhat similar to our 9, not exactly the same but at least recognizable.

 

The middle difficulty may be the number 3-in Egypt, it is a reclining “3” with a small tail trailing behind it.

The number 4 in Egypt is like the reverse of our number 3.

There are also quite a few mistaken ones: Egypt’s 6, which looks more like our 7.

When taking a taxi, remember the numbers that are easily confused. After all, not every driver will check your mobile phone number or name with you, and it will be very troublesome to get on the wrong bus.

As for the 7 and 8 in Egypt?

7 is the symbol with the opening up, and 8 is the symbol with the opening down. Remember one of them and the other can’t be mistaken.

In fact, no matter how unfamiliar the words are, you will become familiar with them after reading them locally a few times.

Maybe this is the meaning of traveling-the scenery seen after traveling thousands of miles and the knowledge gained by reading thousands of books have become profound in personal experience again and again.