Greek numeral
ancient numeral system
Also known as: Attic numeral
Quick Summary
The ancient Greek numeral system was a non-positional system that used letters of the Greek alphabet to represent numbers. There were two main systems:1
- Attic numerals: These were an older system, appearing by the 5th century BCE, that primarily used initial letters of numeral names as abbreviations.2
- Ionic numerals: Developed later, around the 3rd century BCE, this system assigned specific Greek letters to represent digits 1-9, tens 10-90, and hundreds 100-900. A bar placed above a numeral indicated multiplication by 1,000.3
Unlike modern Hindu-Arabic numerals, these Greek systems were not place-value systems, which made complex calculations more challenging.1
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