The Collaborative International Dictionary
Arabic \Ar"a*bic\, a. [L. Arabicus, fr. Arabia.] Of or pertaining to Arabia or the Arabians.
Arabic numerals or figures, the nine digits, 1, 2, 3, etc., and the cipher 0.
Gum arabic. See under Gum.
Wiktionary
n. (Arabic numeral English)
Wikipedia
Arabic numerals, also called Hindu-Arabic or Hindu numerals, are the ten digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, based on the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, the most common system for the symbolic representation of numbers in the world today. In this system, a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a single number, using the position of the digit in the sequence to interpret its value. The symbol for zero is the key for the effectiveness of the system, which was developed by ancient mathematicians in the Indian Subcontinent around AD 500.
The system was adopted by the Persian and Arab mathematicians in Baghdad and passed on to the Arabs farther west. There is some evidence to suggest that the numerals in their current form developed from Arabic letters in the Maghreb, the western region of the Arab World. The current form of the numerals developed in North Africa, distinct in form from the Indian and eastern Arabic numerals. It was in the North African city of Bejaia that the Italian scholar Fibonacci first encountered the numerals; his work was crucial in making them known throughout Europe and then further to the Europeans who spread it worldwide. The use of Arabic numerals spread around the world through European trade, books and colonialism.
The term Arabic numerals is ambiguous. It most commonly refers to the numerals widely used in Europe and the Americas; to avoid confusion, Unicode calls these European digits. Arabic numerals is also the conventional name for the entire family of related numerals of Arabic and Indian numerals. It may also be intended to mean the numerals used by Arabs, in which case it generally refers to the Eastern Arabic numerals. It would be more appropriate to refer to the Arabic numeral system, where the value of a digit in a number depends on its position.
Although the phrase "Arabic numeral" is frequently capitalized, it is sometimes written in lower case: for instance, in its entry in the Oxford English dictionary, which helps to distinguish it from "Arabic numerals" as the East Arabic numerals specific to the Arabs.
Arabic numerals or Hindu-Arabic or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, which are the most popular digits in the world as of early 21st century.
Arabic numerals may also refer to:
- Hindu–Arabic numeral system, a positional decimal numeral system, nowadays the most common symbolic representation of numbers
- Eastern Arabic numerals (٠,١,٢,٣,٤,٥,٦,٧,٨,٩), used to represent the Hindu–Arabic numeral system in the countries of the Arab east, and its variant in other countries
- Numerals (number names) in Arabic language; see
- Abjad numerals, a decimal numeral system in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values and may be used in ordered lists
Usage examples of "arabic numerals".
Note: Compare, on the Introduction of the Arabic numerals, Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe, p.
What difference did it make whether Albert's last message was in Latin or Arabic numerals?
Transliterate them into Roman alphabet spellings and Arabic numerals, and somewhere, somebody would spot each numerical significance, as Hubert Penrose and Mort Tranter and she had done with the table of elements.
Through him the Arabic numerals and algebra were introduced to Christian students, and among other philosophers at his court was Michael Scott, who translated portions of Aristotle and the commentaries thereon of the great Arab philosopher Averroes (of Cordoba).
Fortunately the digital frequency dial was labeled in Arabic numerals.
Inside, Weatherhill nodded at the Arabic numerals on the control buttons.
Write the numbers one through twenty-five, down the left side of the paper -- Arabic numerals, William, not Roman numerals -- no, Snyder, you may not go to the bathroom during a test -- I don't care if your big brother did tell you it's your Constitutional right.
They would call them Arabic numerals, because they got them from the Arabs.
We still speak of ‘Arabic numerals’ although it would be more correct to say Indian numerals.
His people, naturally, did not use either the Arabic numerals with which Soames was most familiar, nor the arrangement which gives the same symbol a value of units, hundreds, thousands or millions depending on its position in a group of such symbols.
The adjacent screen showed its computer's quick interpretations, equations rendered in Arabic numerals, Greek and Roman letters, international signs for mathematical operations.