Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/498

494 Among the ancient Semitic peoples we find separate symbols for 1, 10, 20 and 100. Noteworthy is the use of twenty in forming the higher powers of ten; sixty is written as three twenties. The use of twenty as a unit of higher order goes back to primitive counting on fingers and toes, which operation still exists among Pacific coast tribes of Indians, Mexicans and Esquimaux. Persistence of the unit twenty is seen in our word for score; more markedly in the French quatre-vingt for 80.0.

Some time before the Christian era, the Phœnicians changed to an alphabet system of numbers. The first nine letters of their alphabet were given the number values 1 to 9; to the second nine attach the values 10—90; and similarly with the hundreds. From the Phœnicians this method was taken by the Hebrews and the Greeks. In any numerical work the order hundreds, tens, units is strictly observed. Nevertheless, as to each word there was a definite number value the Hebrews indulged in secret writing by giving one name with the hint to the wise to substitute some other well-known name with the same number value. This near-punning occurs in the Book of the Revelations, "the number of the Beast is 666" referring to the Roman Emperor whose name written in Hebrew letters had the numerical value, 666.

A different type is presented by the Attic system of numbers in use among the ancient Greeks, in which the symbols are the first letters of the corresponding Greek words.

Combinations r A, r H, r x, r M were used for 50, 500, 5,000 and 50,000. The advantage in numerical computation of this system over the alphabet system is great as the connection between 50, 500 and 5,000 is brought out by "the symbols. Deceived by the apparent simplicity of the alphabet system, the Greeks abandoned the Attic in favor of the alphabet form.

are apparently simple, but they fail to show any trace of the underlying decimal system.