• ragman
    Jan 5 12:22 AM 2007
    Reply
    I was watching the news on New Years and saw that the numbers where the same in all of the countries that they showed. I was wondering if numbers are the same in all countries. If so why are numbers not the same as language changing from country to country?

  • Kazrith
    January 5, 2007
    Reply
    numbers...

    do you mean these? 1234567890??

  • ragman
    January 5, 2007
    Reply

    yes

    yes I mean 1234567890

  • Hamumori
    January 6, 2007
    Reply
    well, the characters are different in a lot of scripts. indian numerals look quite like western ones, arabic numerals a little less, and everything else is pretty much unrelated. i think most counting systems go by powers of ten, but grouping powers changes here and there: for example in eastern asia you group numerals by ten thousands instead of thousands.

    the current trend towards international standardisation in measurement means that everyone is encouraged to use the same system - european numerals for example. but that doesnt mean a traditional numeric script is completely given up on. often townspeople or the elderly wish to fight against change in the arena of traditional scripts. for example, i live in japan, and more often than not a shop run by an old couple selling tofu for example, the prices are written entirely in japanese script, whereas chain stores' prices are entirely in european script. of course, a currency symbol is normally standardised per country so it you might expect it to be retained from traditional script.
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