Glyphs used with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system

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Various symbol sets are used to represent numbers in the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, all of which evolved from the Brahmi numerals.

The symbols used to represent the system have split into various typographical variants since the Middle Ages:

• the widespread Western "Arabic numerals" used with the Latin alphabet, in the table below labelled "European", descended from the "West Arabic numerals" which were developed in al-Andalus and the Maghreb (There are two typographic styles for rendering European numerals, known as lining figures and text figures).
• the "Arabic-Indic" or "Eastern Arabic numerals" used with the Arabic alphabet, developed primarily in what is now Iraq. A variant of the Eastern Arabic numerals used in Persian and Urdu languages as shown as "East Arabic-Indic".
• the "Devanagari numerals" used with Devanagari and related variants grouped as Indian numerals.

It is interesting to note that, like many numbering systems, the numbers 1, 2, and 3 represent simple tally marks. 1 being a single line, 2 being two lines (now connected by a diagonal) and 3 being three lines (now connected by two vertical lines). After three, numbers tend to become more complex symbols (examples are the Chinese/Japanese numbers and Roman numerals). Theorists believe that this is because it becomes difficult to instantaneously count objects past two[1].

[edit] List of symbols in contemporary use

[edit] Symbols

Note: Some symbols may not display correctly if your browser does not support Unicode fonts.

Value	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
East-Arabic	٠	١	٢	٣	٤	٥	٦	٧	٨	٩
Far-East-Arabic	۰	۱	۲	۳	۴	۵	۶	۷	۸	۹
Bengali	০	১	২	৩	৪	৫	৬	৭	৮	৯
Devanagari	०	१	२	३	४	५	६	७	८	९
European	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Gujarati	૦	૧	૨	૩	૪	૫	૬	૭	૮	૯
Gurmukhi	੦	੧	੨	੩	੪	੫	੬	੭	੮	੯
Kannada	೦	೧	೨	೩	೪	೫	೬	೭	೮	೯
Limbu	᥆	᥇	᥈	᥉	᥊	᥋	᥌	᥍	᥎	᥏
Malayalam	൦	൧	൨	൩	൪	൫	൬	൭	൮	൯
Oriya	୦	୧	୨	୩	୪	୫	୬	୭	୮	୯
Telugu	౦	౧	౨	౩	౪	౫	౬	౭	౮	౯
Thai	๐	๑	๒	๓	๔	๕	๖	๗	๘	๙
Tibetan	༠	༡	༢	༣	༤	༥	༦	༧	༨	༩
Lao	໐	໑	໒	໓	໔	໕	໖	໗	໘	໙
Tamil	௦	௧	௨	௩	௪	௫	௬	௭	௮	௯

At present the following sets are being used:

Hindu-Arabic numerals

These are the most widely-used symbols, used in western parts of the Arab world, west of Egypt, in European and Western countries and worldwide. They are known as Arabic numerals, Western numerals, European numerals or digits[2], Western Arabic numerals, Arabic Western numerals^{[citation needed]}. In Arabic they are called "Western Numerals". (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Devanagari numerals

These symbols are used in languages that use the Devanagari script. (०, १, २, ३, ४, ५, ६, ७, ८, ९) They are sometimes called late Devanagari numerals to distinguish them from the early Devanagari numerals.

Eastern Arabic numerals

In English they are also called Eastern Arabic numerals, Arabic-Indic numerals, Arabic Eastern Numerals. In Arabic though, they are called "Indian numerals", أرقام هندية, arqam hindiyyah. They are sometimes called Indic Numerals in English[3], however, this nomenclature is sometimes discouraged as it "leads to confusion with the digits currently used with the scripts of India"[4]. They are used in Egypt and Arabic countries east of it, and were also in the no longer used Ottoman Turkish script (٠.١.٢.٣.٤.٥.٦.٧.٨٩)

A variant of the Eastern Arabic numerals is used in Persian and Urdu languages. (۰، ۱، ۲، ۳، ۴، ۵، ۶، ۷، ۸، ۹)

Gurmukhi numerals

Used in the Punjabi language. (੦, ੧, ੨, ੩, ੪, ੫, ੬, ੭, ੮, ੯)

Bengali numerals

Used in the Bengali and Assamese languages (০, ১, ২, ৩, ৪, ৫, ৬, ৭, ৮, ৯)

Oriya numerals

Used in the Oriya language (୦, ୧, ୨, ୩, ୪, ୫, ୬, ୭, ୮, ୯)

Tamil numerals

Used in the Tamil language (௦, ௧, ௨, ௩, ௪, ௫, ௬, ௭, ௮, ௯)

Kannada numerals

Used in the Kannada language (೦, ೧, ೨, ೩, ೪, ೫, ೬, ೭, ೮, ೯)

Malayalam numerals

Used in the Malayalam language (൦, ൧, ൨, ൩, ൪, ൫, ൬, ൭, ൮, ൯)

Thai numerals

Used in the Thai language (๐, ๑, ๒, ๓, ๔, ๕, ๖, ๗, ๘, ๙)

Tibetan numerals

Used in the Tibetan language (༠, ༡, ༢, ༣, ༤, ༥, ༦, ༧, ༨, ༩)

Burmese numerals

Used in Burma since the 11th century. [5]

Eastern Cham numerals

Used in Vietnam [6]

Western Cham numerals

Used in Cambodia [7]

Khmer numerals

Used in Cambodia [8]

Javanese numerals

Used in Java since the time of Pallavas. [9]

Lepcha numerals

Used in Sikkim and Bhutan [10]

Lao numerals

Used in Lao language (໐, ໑, ໒, ໓, ໔, ໕, ໖, ໗, ໘, ໙)