"Why do some people draw a line
through the number 7?" The Newton Falls Public Library staff understood
that our patron was curious as to why there was a line crossing the vertical
line of that number.
Using the search words "why line
through 7" brought up a variety of results. There were several different theories. At
www.funtrivia.com, Carlos responded to this question,
stating that "Mathematicians
and computer data entrists are prone to crossing their sevens to differentiate
from ones, and also their zeros to differentiate from the letter o." Other websites also noted that some people
put a line through the letter Z, to ensure that it is not confused with the
number 2.
The
website, www.sciencechats.com directed us to an interesting slide show by Nzar Hama, an engineer in Sulimni,
Kurdistan, Iraq. He states that
"the numbers we write are made up of algorithms (1, 2, 3, 4, etc), called
arabic algorithms . . . written in their primitive form . . ." they are
made up of angles. The number one
written with the small tall at the top has one angle. The other numbers, written in straight lines,
is each made up of lines with the corresponding number of angles.
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