ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Western Arabic numerals

Hey there! Today, I will tell you about Western Arabic numerals in a very simple language.

There are lots of ways to count or write down numbers, and one of these ways is using Western Arabic numerals. They are the numbers we use every day, like 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Western Arabic numerals are also called Hindu-Arabic numerals. They came from two places: India and Arabia. Long ago in India, people used symbols to represent numbers. Later, Arab mathematicians saw these symbols and thought they were very useful, so they took them to Arabia.

From Arabia, the Western Arabic numerals spread to the whole world. Nowadays, you can find them on your phone screen or your clock, and almost anywhere else you can think of.

Each of these ten symbols has a unique shape that helps us to identify the number it represents. For example, zero looks like a circle, while one looks like a straight line, and two looks like a curve. By combining these symbols, we can create bigger numbers like 10, 20, 33, and 42, and so on.

So, Western Arabic numerals are just a way of expressing numbers using ten symbols. They are an essential part of our daily lives, allowing us to count and calculate with ease. And that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed this explanation!