> On Apr 27, 2022, at 4:38 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctech <cct...@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> On 4/27/22 10:51, Craig Ruff via cctech wrote:
>> Having gone through many mathematics courses it was common to also place a
>> slash on the letter Z to distinguish it from the numeral 2. Also for persons
>> from Europe where they slashed the numeral 7 to distinguish it from a
>> numeral 1 that commonly had an initial small upward stroke at the top when
>> hand written.
>
> Not just a small initial upward stroke on the "1", but in some European
> countries (I'm thinking of Germany and the Netherlands), some make that
> stroke at least half the height of the number, if not more. I have no
> idea where the long top stroke originated.
I've seen that occasionally, but it certainly is not Dutch standard handwriting
-- at least not in the 1960s when I learned to write there.
I just read a book from around 1900 (at gutenberg.org) "The key to the family
deed chest" which has in chapter VI a chart showing what the digits looked like
in the 12th through 16th centuries. Amusingly, some of them (like 7) have one
shape in even numbered centuries and a different one in odd numberd centuries.
:-)
paul
