![]() ![]() Third, the numerals are written differently in different parts of the world, when written by hand: We call our numerals "Arabic" (or "Hindu-Arabic" if we're being more accurate) but they are not the same as the classical Arabic or Hindu numerals. So there was a huge advantage to people in switching from other numeral systems to the modern one, back in the day when most calculation was done by hand. ![]() Go look up the Greek-Hebrew one it's great for making secret codes but lousy for doing long division. And most other number systems were worse than Roman numerals. Doing it in Roman numerals is a lot harder: DLXXIV × IX: first you have to unpack the subtractives IV and IX to form IIII and VIIII then you multiply each digit on the left by each on the right then you sort them in descending order and then you group up any IIIII's to make V's and so on. If you want to multiply 574 × 9, you can multiply 500 × 9, 70 × 9, and 4 × 9 and then add up the results. The big difference is in place value, which means you can calculate one digit at a time and add up the results quickly. First, not all numeral systems are created equal! It is actually a lot easier to do arithmetic with Hindu-Arabic numerals (the ones we use) than with Roman numerals, Mayan numerals, Greek-Hebrew numerals, or Babylonian numerals.
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