Talk:Abjad numerals

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[edit] Allah = 37 claim

What does "consecutive repeating letters count as single" mean? Consonants with shadda are certainly only counted once, but in Allah there are actually two letters Lam, not only a shadda. You can only get 37 by omitting one of the Lam's (which is a real actual letter) and counting the diacritic alif (which is not a letter, merely a diacritic). Who does reduction of words to numerical values in this manner, and what evidence do you have for it? There's plenty of evidence that many people sum بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم to 786. AnonMoos 15:30, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Questions

  • Is this written with the most significant digit on the left or the right?
  • Is there a representation of zero?
  • Is there a representation for fractions?

-- Beland 04:02, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I think you have a misunderstanding of what Abjad numerals are, and what they're used for. They're letters of the ordinary Arabic alphabet given numerical interpretations in several particular specific contexts, such as:
1) Labelling a sequence of items (such as subsection headings) from 1-28, using single letters listed in one of the Abjad orders given on the article page.
2) Somewhat archaically on astrolabes and in a few other mostly-historical contexts, always to represent positive integers (most often positive integers less than 2,000).
3) To sum the letters in a word for mystical-religious-occult numerological analysis.
That's about it. For a cultural analogue think Roman numerals (MDCLXVI), but without the rule that writing lesser before bigger means subtraction (therefore making the order of writing the symbols somewhat unimportant). Roman numerals don't have a representation for zero or fractions... AnonMoos 09:05, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
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