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From: dave@viper.UUCP (David Messer)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Byte Order: On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace
Message-ID: <399@viper.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Dec-86 04:14:05 EST
Article-I.D.: viper.399
Posted: Tue Dec  2 04:14:05 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 1-Dec-86 20:03:02 EST
References: <1509@ihlpl.UUCP> <1335@hoptoad.uucp> <1364@hoptoad.uucp>
Reply-To: dave@viper.UUCP (David Messer)
Organization: Lynx Data Systems, Minneapolis, MN
Lines: 22
Summary: It's all a mistake!

I asked a friend of mine, who teaches Arabic, how that language
treats numbers.  As you know, we got our system of numbers from
the arabs.

I was told that a number, such as "123", would be read and written
from left to right, just as is the other elements of the language.
I.e. it would show up in an Arabic text as "xxx xxxx xxx 123 xxxx",
the whole of which would be read from the right.  Also the number
would be translated into words as "three and twenty and one hundred"
instead of "One hundred and twenty three."  Obviously, the people
who originally started using arabic numbers made a major mistake!
We should be writing the above number as "321!"  I think the
time is now (AM 91:3) to correct this error.  We should change
our school system to start teaching the use of numbers as they
were origionally designed.

( :-) but it really is too bad that the error was made way back when... )
-- 
Disclaimer:                       | David Messer 
I'm always right and I never lie. | Software Consultant 
My company knows this and agrees  | UUCP:  ihnp4!quest!viper!dave 
with everything I say.            |        ihnp4!meccts!viper!dave