Page:A History Of Mathematical Notations Vol I (1928).djvu/39

Rh  is  for 5. Beginning with 100 the Palmyra numerals contain new forms, Placing a | to the right of the sign for 10 (see Fig. 9) signifies multiplication of 10 by 10, giving 100. Two vertical strokes || mean 10×20, or 200; three of them, 10×30, or 300.

28. Related to the Phoenician are numerals of Syria, found in manuscripts of the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. Their shapes and their mode of combination are shown in Figure 10. The Syrians employed also the twenty-two letters of their alphabet to represent the numbers 1–9, the tens 10–90, the hundreds 100–400. The following hundreds were indicated by juxtaposition: 500=400+100, 600=400+200,. . . ., 900=400+400+100, or else by writing respectively 50–90 and placing a dot over the letter to express that its value is to be taken tenfold. Thousands were indicated by the letters for 1–9, with a stroke annexed as a subscript. Ten thousands were expressed by drawing a small dash below the letters for one’s and ten’s. Millions were marked by the letters 1–9 with two strokes annexed as subscripts (i.e., 1,000×1,000=1,000,000).



29. The Hebrews used their alphabet of twenty-two letters for the designation of numbers, on the decimal plan, up to 400. Figure 11 shows three forms of characters: the Samaritan, Hebrew, and Rabbinic or cursive. The Rabbinic was used by commentators of the Sacred Writings. In the Hebrew forms, at first, the hundreds from 500 to 800 were represented by juxtaposition of the sign for 400 and a second number sign. Thus, stood for 500,  for 600,  for 700,  for 800.

30. Later the end forms of five letters of the Hebrew alphabet came to be used to represent the hundreds 500–900. The five letters representing 20, 40, 50, 80, 90, respectively, had two forms; one of