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by creative-coder 2679 days ago
The Hindu–Arabic numerals are monosyllabic in most Indian languages (e.g. Hindi, Bengali, etc.) as well
1 comments
FraaJad 2679 days ago
You can just call them Indian numbers. "Arabic" didn't contribute anything to the number system except using them.

Calling them as "Arabic" numbers is as dated as words like "Orientals", "Indians" to refer to native Americans, etc.,

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yesenadam 2679 days ago
They're Indian, true. Well, the world is like that - thus Boyer's law:

"Mathematical formulas and theorems are usually not named after their original discoverers"

and Stigler's law of eponymy: "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler%27s_law_of_eponymy

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moate 2679 days ago
According to whom? I've never heard of this though before. Are you saying the Persians didn't add value and therefor don't deserve credit?
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moate 2678 days ago
This is a legitimate question. I've always heard them called Hindu/Indian-Arab Numerals, and I've never heard of complaints about this before this thread.

I'm just trying to find out who this is offending or why it's problematic phrasing.

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FraaJad 2678 days ago
Just the fact that you are conflating persian and "arabic" words makes me chuckle.

They are quite different, even if they are close geographically. Ask a an actual Iranian/Perisan if they would like to mistaken for a Saudi/Arabic.

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moate 2678 days ago
You say this like I made these cultural choices on how to name these things.

I'm not conflation "Persian" with "Arabic". I wouldn't call an Iranian a Saudi anymore than I'd call an Indian a Pakistani. But the widespread adoption of the numbers and their naming happened during times when people modern nomenclature hadn't taken hold.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu%E2%80%93Arabic_numeral_s...

I didn't write this article, so I'm not the only person in the world making these assumptions. I understand that there are some weird problematic names that still exist for common objects, but this is genuinely something I'd just assumed most people accepted as the name, especially in the West.

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