Why in arabic languages numbers are written from left to right, though the letters are from right to left?

Answer 1

This is probably because the Arabic numerals were actually developed in India, where they write left to right. The numerals were then passed along to the middle east, where they spread to Europe. This is why we call them 'Arabic.'

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Numbers are written from right to left as well if written in literal Arabic.

Perhaps the Arabs wrote their numbers from left to right to faciliate record keeping with non-Semitic nations.

Answer 4

My scenario is, when Arabs took the numbers from Indians, instead of changing the orientation to right-to-left, they mistakenly changed how they read the numbers, and they start to read right-to-left. This is the starting mistake. They should have changed the orientation of writing to right-to-left because they were writing characters right-to-left. They could not resist Hindus and they made their reading wrong. The normal and correct reading of numbers is starting from most significant to least significant(as in seventy-eight). But because they could not manage to resist Hindus and convert the numbers to RTL, they convert how they read.

Answer 5

the numbers that are called arabic are actually indian numbers , arabic numbers are actually 1 2 3 etc , these numbers including the zero which is originated from the arab word ( sifir ) were introduced to the western civilisation and adopted .

Answer 6

They aren't. They are written from right to left just like letters. The ones digit is written first, followed by the tens digit, the hundreds digit, etc.

Answer 7

True but its a matter of preference. Number writing convention had to be universal.

Answer 8

hey even i always wanted to know that...coz im working in a gulf country ...but i always forget to ask my syrian frends