Survey says most Americans believe 'Arabic numerals' shouldn't be taught in

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Oh, none taken.

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If Indians didnā€™t invent Arabic numerals and we only had Roman ones, Iā€™d kill myself.

No kidding.

Edit: changed from ā€˜Arabā€™ to ā€˜Indianā€™.

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Hereā€™s to hoping you have IX lives. (BTW, thanks for explaining the context of the articleā€¦ Iā€™m just one of the dummies.)

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Yeah, I posted this on a fb group Iā€™m in and most people told me that they were never really taught that Arabic numerals are actually numbers we use.

So, this says more about American education system than anything.

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I recall them being introduced as Arabic numerals (in juxtaposition to Roman numerals) in third and fourth grade. That would have been around 1972-73. Beyond that, they were just numerals. So, I can see people forgetting about their origin. If Roman numerals were used at all (except at the copyright notice at the end of a movie) I would think that the term Arabic numerals would be more frequently used, and then people would be aware. I think it is really a silly survey and article. The fact that the author felt that he had to immediately (itā€™s the second sentence of the article) explain what Arabic numerals were shows that the term just isnā€™t used commonly in the states.

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@Djordje Is the term used commonly in Europe? Iā€™m wondering what the European man-on-the-street knows about itā€¦

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We were taught about it in 3rd or 4th grade. Beyond that, not much.

Speaking of, from the same survey:

They were talking about Big Bang. People probably thought they meant creationism. Seriously misleading.

But, then again, survey was made to test peopleā€™s biases soā€¦

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Iā€™m glad you shared this, too. It is interesting to see how liberals vs. conservatives responded when asked about one topic or the other. Itā€™s important for us to all understand that we have biases and that they affect our opinions. Especially, maybe, our uninformed, knee-jerk opinions!

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Arabs didnā€™t invent Arabic numerals. Indians did. The reason theyā€™re known by that name is that Europeans got them from Arabs. But of course the Arabs got them from the Indians.

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Yeah, Arabic mathematicians from Baghdad adopted it and passed it over, I know. I misspoke.

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It happens when you make a mad rush to mock all 325,000,000 Americans at once!! Slow down there, Buck-a-roo, thereā€™s plenty of time to mock!! :slight_smile:

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Although, I believe they made a mistake here. Lemaitre, I think, didnā€™t discover Big Bang but rather expansion of the universe.

@dga471 , @pevaquark , @PdotdQ ?

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Survey says most Americans are against ā€œcursive writingā€ being taught to school children

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Good on them. No one needs to learn cursive writing. With computers, itā€™s just not necessary anymore.

Plus, Iā€™m really bad at it.

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Exactly how educational determinations should be made!!! :slight_smile:

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I agree. Cursing is not appropriate for children.

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You got my joke!

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Then why speak English? Americans/Canadians are the most moral, kind, people that ever existed. i donā€™t agree with a bigotry concept existing in the human heart BUT NORTH AMERICANS have been the least bigotted humans in human history. to deny this is a great ignorance of human history.
Anyways when the term Arabic numerals is used they simply would know it means our present numbers. In other words another system which logically one would reject.
especially from those who are seen to bring death and misery to humanity these days. i donā€™t or rather its just a few but most would.
These obscure facts would be more known in obscure countries that have less to memorize or the wrong things.
This is a American dominance, INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL, that the world lives in.
I think people are envious, jealous, even hateful, towards the winners.
I think most yanks and Canucks think so too but too kind to point it out. I point it out as iā€™m a outlaw type.

Seems like we have the best drugs too

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