What are these numbers (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) called?

People used to use Roman numerals (Super Bowl L, anyone?) Now we write numbers like this: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. What do you call this style of writing numbers?

I guessed Arabic without looking it up, because I vaguely felt like I was taught that in elementary school.

I should have voted for European:



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

In answer to the OOO 000 question, I think the answer is "yes." The rule is anything obscene is skipped over but I see no rule against that in a vanity license plate.

I also have a vague recollection that Arabic is what they were called when I was in school. I never heard them called European until yesterday. I have learned something new today (actually two new things including the confusing vanity plate). Thanks Wizard!

Quote: Ayecarumba

I also have a vague recollection that Arabic is what they were called when I was in school. I never heard them called European until yesterday.

Me too.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I also have a vague recollection that Arabic is what they were called when I was in school. I never heard them called European until yesterday. I have learned something new today (actually two new things including the confusing vanity plate). Thanks Wizard!

Me three.

It's possible that the reason they were called Arabic was only known in a widespread way recently, only scholars in the field knowing better. I think we forget how entrenched errors in popular circulation could persist in days gone by, and this not so long ago. Even errors circulated in somewhat educated groups could and did persist. The problem is not unknown now, but had been much worse before the internet.

Which is not to say the internet isn't hatching its own similar problems.

Here is a different wikipedia link, parent to the one Wizard posted, which also describes the origin of arabic numerals, and the term "european digits"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numerals

It also says the term "european digits" is a label in the unicode character layout for these numbers, to help disambiguate them from the other characters that are using the word "arabic" as part of their description.

I had never heard the term european characters until the posts on this website, and I have done a fair amount of crawling around in the unicode character tables for work.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I also have a vague recollection that Arabic is what they were called when I was in school

FWIW, in elementary school in Mexico these were called "Indo-Arabic" numerals.

I don't mind telling you I was surprised when I first visited the Middle East, that Arabic did not use "Indo-Arabic" numerals.

I came across an article that describes the way folks in Europe hand write their digits is different than in the Americas. For example the number 1 is written with a stroke from the bottom to the top, the number 4 sort of looks like a lightning bolt, and the number 7 should include a cross through the vertical stroke to distinguish it from the number 1.

Other things: Dates are written in DD/MM/YY order. The "decimal point" is used like the comma in large numbers, and the comma is used like a decimal point.

Maybe European isn't accurate after all...

Quote: Ayecarumba

I also have a vague recollection that Arabic is what they were called when I was in school. I never heard them called European until yesterday. I have learned something new today (actually two new things including the confusing vanity plate). Thanks Wizard!

Me three. Definitely taught as Arabic numbers.

Edit. Make that me four. :)