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Many ancient cultures, including Roman, Hebrew, Arabic, Egyptian, Gothic, Greek, Balkan, Ethiopian, and Slavic, used letters to represent numbers. This practice seems convenient, as it utilizes existing symbols from writing systems. However, ancient Indian mathematicians chose a different path, creating entirely new symbols for their numerical system. What factors might have influenced this unique approach in India, and what advantages could it have offered over alphanumeric systems?

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    $\begingroup$ It is unclear that Indians did not use letters initially or that it was particularly uncommon. According to one theory, the Brahmi numerals derive from Kharoṣṭhī alphabet, like Attic numerals, and according to another, from tally signs, like Egyptian or Etruscan (eventually Roman) numerals. Late non-letter variations are as much due to Arabs and Persians as to Indians when the decimal positional system spread. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 25, 2024 at 6:44
  • $\begingroup$ Reusing letters as numbers leads to ambiguity. Creating new glyphs for digits eliminates that. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2024 at 6:01
  • $\begingroup$ Also ancient Babylonian mathematics used special symbols. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2024 at 11:56
  • $\begingroup$ @conifold. do you have references about this? eikipedia says: Brahmi numerals are a numeral system attested in the Indian subcontinent from the 3rd century BCE. It is the direct graphic ancestor of the modern Hindu–Arabic numeral system. However, the Brahmi numeral system was conceptually distinct from these later systems, as it was a non-positional decimal system, and did not include zero. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2024 at 12:14

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