Armenian numerals

The system of Armenian numerals is a historic numeral system created using the majuscules (uppercase letters) of the Armenian alphabet.

There was no notation for zero in the old system, and the numeric values for individual letters were added together. The principles behind this system are the same as for the Ancient Greek numerals and Hebrew numerals. In modern Armenia, the familiar Arabic numerals are used. Armenian numerals are used more or less like the Roman numerals in modern English, f.e. Գարեգին Բ. means Garegin II and Գ. գլուխ means Chapter III (as a headline).

Since not all browsers can render Unicode Armenian letters, the transliteration (REArm) is given.

Note that the final two letters of the Armenian alphabet, "o" (Օ) and "fe" (Ֆ) were added to the Armenian alphabet only after Arabic numerals were already in use, to facilitate transliteration of other languages. Thus, they do not have a numerical value assigned to them.

[edit] Algorithm

Numbers in the Armenian numeral system are obtained by simple addition. Armenian numerals are written left-to-right (as in the Armenian language). Although the order of the numerals is irrelevant since only addition is performed, the convention is to write them in decreasing order of value.

Examples:

• ՌՋՀԵ = 1975 = 1000 + 900 + 70 + 5
• ՍՄԻԲ = 2222 = 2000 + 200 + 20 + 2
• ՍԴ = 2004 = 2000 + 4
• ՃԻ = 120 = 100 + 20
• Ծ = 50

For numbers greater than 9000, a line is drawn over a coressponding letter, multiplying it by 10,000; i.e., 10,000 would be Ա with a line over it, 20,000 would be Բ with a line over it, etc.