Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Our World: Saudi Arabia License Plate



License plates in Saudi Arabia have both Arabic and English letters and numbers.  Ironically, it was the Arabs / Asians who invented the numbers used in the west which are actually called Arabic numerals (Western).  Yes, our " 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 " system is the most widely used numeric system in the world, however the Arabs use a different version of numbers called Eastern Arabic numbers.

I wonder how many Americans or other westerners actually know that the numbers they use every day originated in this part of the world.




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2 comments:

Al said...

I knew that - it was such a huge step forward from Roman numerals. Imagine trying to do complex mathematics with those!

William Kendall said...

I did know that, yes. I'll certainly never see that plate here- who'd go through the expense of shipping their car across the ocean?