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→‎Origins of numerals: Clarify; add TA illustration
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==Origins of numerals==
 
==Origins of numerals==
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The numerals used in various languages, living and extinct, show their origins in stroke marks or scores (cuts), like the Chinese 一二三, and the earliest forms of Hindu-Arabic-European numerals. The following are Kharosthi numerals, among the earliest forms known from India. Kharosthi was written from right to left, like the source for its writing, Aramaic, and the source for all alphabetic writing, Phoenician. First we have an image, so that you don't need a Kharosthi font to view it, followed by the numerals in Unicode text.
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The numerals used in various languages, living and extinct, show their origins in stroke marks or scores (cuts), like the Chinese 一二三, and the earliest forms of Hindu-Arabic-European numerals. The following are Kharosthi numerals, among the earliest numeral forms known from India. Kharosthi was written from right to left, like the source for its writing, Aramaic, and the source for all alphabetic writing, Phoenician. First we have an image, so that you don't need a Kharosthi font to view it, followed by the numerals for 1–4 in Unicode text.
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[[File:KharosthiNumerals1-3.png]]
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[[File:KharosthiNumerals1-4.png]]
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𐩀 𐩁 𐩂
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𐩀 𐩁 𐩂 𐩃
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Kharosthi numerals indicate counting on four fingers but not the thumb. The Kharosthi numeral for 4 is very similar to X, so 7 in Kharosthi can be approximated in ASCII (right-to-left, again) )))X.
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The first three of these are very similar to our modern numerals, except that the 2 and 3 have been turned sideways during their migrations. The numeral for 4 has been given a smaller turn, and a stroke added.
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Kharosthi numerals exist for 5–9, but these are not of the visual type. It was also possible to write numbers in Kharosthi in something like the manner of Roman numerals, so that 2 would be 𐩀𐩀. However, Kharosthi indicates a custom of counting on four fingers but not the thumb, so it uses a numeral for 4 rather than 5 as in Roman numerals. The Kharosthi numeral for 4 is very similar to X, so 7 in Kharosthi can be approximated in ASCII (right-to-left, again) )))X.
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The font for Kharosthi in Ubuntu Linux is in the package ttf-mph-2b-damase, with the name damase.ttf. Package names in other distributions may vary.
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Naturally, we can teach a Turtle how to write Kharosthi numerals.
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[[File:TAKharosthiNumerals.png]]
    
==Visual numerals in Unicode==
 
==Visual numerals in Unicode==
1,009

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