ABJAD NUMERALS Meaning and
Definition
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Abjad numerals are a numerical system primarily used in the Arabic-speaking world. Derived from the Arabic alphabet, which belongs to the abjad family of scripts, they are a type of numeral representation based on assigning numerical values to individual letters. Each letter in the Arabic alphabet is assigned a numerical value, and those values are used to form numbers. However, abjad numerals do not represent positional notation; instead, the numerical values of each letter are added together to represent the total value of a given number.
In the abjad system, the numerical values of the Arabic letters range from one to one thousand. The basic values are assigned to the first ten letters of the alphabet, while the values for the remaining letters increase in increments of ten. In addition, certain letters are assigned unique values depending on their position within a word.
Abjad numerals are primarily used for writing dates in Islamic calendar systems, as well as in traditional Arabic mathematics and astrology. They were widely used in the past, but their usage has become less common with the popularity of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, which is used in most parts of the world today.
Overall, abjad numerals represent a unique numerical system based on the Arabic alphabet, providing an alternative method of representing numbers that differs from the widely used positional notation systems.
Etymology of ABJAD NUMERALS
The word "abjad" comes from the Arabic word "abjadiyah" (أَبْجَدِيَّة), which refers to an ancient Arabic alphabet system. This system assigns numerical values to letters of the Arabic alphabet. Similarly, the "abjad numerals" refers to a numeral system used in Arabic and some other languages, where each letter is assigned a specific numerical value. The term "abjad" originated from the arrangement of the Arabic alphabet, where the first four letters are "alif" (أ), "ba" (ب), "jeem" (ج), and "dal" (د) – corresponding to the sequence A-B-J-D.
