Arabic and Eastern Arabic numerals
📖 In short
In the Maghreb (North Africa) numbers are written like this: 0123, and in the Mashriq (the eastern Arab world) like this: ٠١٢٣. Both come from the same place: the numerals of India, developed by Muslim scholars. And the numerals the whole world uses today are called “Arabic numerals” in Europe.
🤩 Did you know?
- Fibonacci published his book about Arabic numerals in 1202.
- Al-Khwarizmi wrote his book on Indian arithmetic more than 1100 years ago.
- Today more than 7 billion people write numbers with the same digits.
- The Eastern digit ٥ (five) looks like a circle, and the Eastern ٠ (zero) is a small dot.
🔎 Find out more
🌟 The journey of the numerals
More than a thousand years ago, Indian arithmetic books reached Baghdad. Al-Khwarizmi wrote a book explaining calculation with these numerals, and they spread through the Muslim lands from the East to Al-Andalus (Spain).
🔍 Two shapes, one family
In the East the numerals developed into the shape ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩, and in the Maghreb and Al-Andalus into 0123456789. From Al-Andalus the Maghreb shape passed into Europe, where it was called “Arabic numerals”.
💡 Fibonacci and the merchant
The Italian Fibonacci learned arithmetic in Béjaïa, in Algeria, where his father was a merchant. Then in 1202 he wrote a book explaining Arabic numerals to Europeans, and convinced merchants they were much easier than Roman numerals.
🎯 Numbers go from left to right
Arabic words are written from right to left, but numbers are read and written from left to right, as in English: the digit with the biggest value is on the left. In 352 we say: three hundred and fifty-two.
🧮 Worked examples
- 2026 = ٢٠٢٦The same number in both shapes: Maghreb and Eastern.
- ٤٧ = 47Forty-four? No: ٤ is four and ٧ is seven: forty-seven.
📚 Key words
- Arabic numerals
- The digits 0 1 2 3… that spread from the Maghreb and Al-Andalus to the world
- Eastern Arabic numerals
- The digits ٠ ١ ٢ ٣… used in the eastern Arab world
- Place
- A digit's place in a number: ones, tens or hundreds
🧪 Try it at home
Write your birthday and your home phone number in both shapes: 0123 and ٠١٢٣. Then look around the house for a clock, a machine or a book with the Eastern digits on it.
🧩 Test yourself
1 Which Eastern digit means 4?
2 Who wrote a book in Baghdad explaining arithmetic with the Indian numerals?
3 In which city did Fibonacci learn arithmetic?