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The Arabic numerals are a slightly modified shapes of the Indian system.

Written below is a list of the Indian numerals, their corresponding Arabic numeral and their Hindi pronunciation.

Today these numerals are used in all Indian languages that use the Devanagari script. Most Indian languages which use other Brahmic scripts use the Indian numeral systems, except with different symbols for each numeral.

1 History

The Indian numerals have been traced back to about 50 BC. Prior to that, the BrahmiBrahmi refers to the pre-modern members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The earliest inscriptions in this script have been found in Sri Lanka dating back to 600-500 BC. More profuse inscriptions in Brahmi are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka, c. 3rd centur numerals used similar forms, except that 10 was represented as a fish. It is this fish shape that became the "10" of the Indian numerals. This numeral system spread to the Middle EastThe Middle East is a geographical and cultural area comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Middle East is a subregion of Afr and later came to be called the Arabic numeral system, although the Arabs continue to call their numerals the Indian numerals. In 662 a Nestorian bishop living in what is now called IraqThe Republic of Iraq is a Middle Eastern country in southwestern Asia encompassing the ancient region of Mesopotamia. It shares borders with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to the south, Turkey to the north, Syria to the north-west, Jordan to the west and Iran to said of the numeral system:

I will omit all discussion of the science of the Indians ... of their subtle discoveries in astronomy - discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians - and of their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description. I wish only to say that this computation is done by means of nine signs. If those who believe that because they speak Greek they have arrived at the limits of science would read the Indian texts they would be convinced even if a little late in the day that there are others who know something of value.