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Old 09-16-2002, 12:41 AM   #57
MaggieL
in the Hour of Scampering
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Jeffersonville PA (15 mi NW of Philadelphia)
Posts: 4,060
Quote:
Originally posted by jaguar
No maggie, they didn't. Arabic coffee and european coffee are very different. Arabic numerals have not changed much at all.
They've both changed enough that they're identifiably different, yet both still work the same basic way. The glyphs are noticably different (especially 2, 3, 4 , 5 and 8), and the further back you go in time the more different they are, even before we get into differences in writing direction, and changes that happened to the glyphs of the original Indian system as it passed though Arab hands to the West.

The underlying principle of radix-10 positional representation is indeed constant, as is "brewing coffee beans in water to make a beverage".

Are you actually saying the differences between the coffees are somehow "more different" than the differences between arabic numerals as used in Arabic and as they are used in English and in Europe? We're way beyond "apples and oranges" here. Drink some coffee or something.
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