Before understanding Hindu Arabic Numeral System, let us first understand the definitions of number, numeral, digit.
A number is a concept of quantity that is in our mind
A numeral is a symbol, word, or digit, or a group of symbols, words, or digits, that is used to represent a number.
A digit is a single symbol that is used to build a number
For example, in 179 :
179 is numeral
1 is digit, 7 is digit, 9 is digit
Usually when we talk, it is understood that numeral means numbers
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What is Hindu Arabic Numeral System
Hindu Arabic Numeral System was invented by Indian Mathematicians, was adopted by Arab scholars and then it spread to Europe. It is the most widely used system for writing numbers in the world today.
In this system, we have ten digits, namely, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and we denote numerals using place value(also called local value) chart given below
| Ten Crores | Crores | Ten Lakhs | Lakhs | Ten Thousands | Thousands | Hundreds | Tens | Ones |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,00,00,000 | 1,00,00,000 | 10,00,000 | 1,00,000 | 10,000 | 1000 | 100 | 10 | 1 |
Suppose we would like to write numeral 691307090 in words, it can be written as:
| Ten Crores | Crores | Ten Lakhs | Lakhs | Ten Thousands | Thousands | Hundreds | Tens | Ones |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
Sixty-Nine Crore Thirteen Lakh Seven Thousand Ninety
If we are given numeral in words, let us say, Thirty-one crore sixty lakh five thousand fourteen, we can write the numeral as:
| Ten Crores | Crores | Ten Lakhs | Lakhs | Ten Thousands | Thousands | Hundreds | Tens | Ones |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Advantages of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system
The Hindu-Arabic numeral system is the most commonly used number system in the world today as it is easy to use, makes calculation simpler, can represent vary large numbers and is easy to understand and learn.