Brahmi numerals

The Brahmi numerals are Indian numerals from the 3rd century BC From them are descended from Indian numerals.

Origin and development

The origin of the Brahmi numerals is unknown. After a hypothesis the symbols from the alphabet derived from Aramaic Kharoshthi font arisen after another from the hieratic numerals. Although there are several plausible reasons for both assumptions, but they are more likely to be regarded as speculative. Presumably, the Brahmi numerals, similar to the number of symbols of the hieratic writing, but independent of them, from read- economic simplifications originally primitive stroke groups emerged ( Ifrah 2000, p 391 ).

Together with the resulting from the Aramaic script Brahmi Brahmi numerals are used later than 250 BC under the reign of Ashoka.

In 500 AD, initially not in India developed the decimal place value system, but with the Brahmi numerals, but with allegorical number words, only Bhaskara I used the first nine Brahmi numerals together with a small circle for the zero in a decimal system.

Properties

Although the first nine digits are the direct ancestors of today's numbers, so it is not in the Brahmi numerals to a place value system. There was no zero and own digits for the tens (10, 20, 30, ... ) and for the 100 and 1000. Corresponding figures 200, 300, ... are represented by ligatures of its digits.

An essential feature of the Brahmi numerals is that they were used exclusively for the display of numbers, in this respect, similar to the Babylonian, Egyptian and Chinese numerals, and not, as in all the other derived from the Phoenician alphabet writings of antiquity a double meaning as a character and as a digit possessed.

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