A widely shared image shows a seemingly logical explanation for why our numbers look the way they do: the number of angles equals the appearance of the number.

But a closer look reveals that this explanation has several holes in its logic (and is also wrong).
This picture is about:

Screenshot mimikama.org
Screenshot mimikama.org

As long as you only look at the image for a few seconds, smile and continue scrolling after sharing it, you won't notice the arbitrary way the numbers are written, other than the fact that the numbers look square.
But it starts with number 5: Why does it have an additional line?
Why is there an extra line at the bottom of the 7?
Not to mention that the middle line is a modern invention to make it easier to distinguish between 1 and 7 in cursive writing! Why does the 9 have such a distinctive flourish that you only see in calligraphic writing?
And shouldn't the 0 also be square, following the logic of the other number spellings?
Is this really the original Arabic form of number notation?

The history of numbers...

...we won't tell you everything now, because that might be very interesting for some, but terribly boring for others.
However, it should be mentioned that our Arabic numerals originally came from Indian mathematicians. Between the 2nd century B.C. Bakhshali manuscript was created between the 3rd century BC and the 3rd century AD , which even contains the number 0 (the Roman numerals, however, did not have 0), which is represented by a dot.

This is what these numbers looked like back then, which are the origin of our current numbers:

Source: On the Bakshali manuscript, 1887
Source: On the Bakshali manuscript, 1887

Conclusion

As amusing as the explanation in the picture is, it is illogical and wrong.
However, if you would like to find out more about how the numbers are created in a simple and amusing way, we recommend pages of GEOlino


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )