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- Newsgroups: comp.arch
- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!ibmpcug!impmh!dsg
- From: dsg@impmh.uucp (Dave Gordon)
- Subject: Re: big + little endian (was: Comparison of Alpha, MIPS ..)
- Message-ID: <1993Jan11.170917.7216@impmh.uucp>
- Organization: Integrated Micro Products Ltd
- References: <1992Dec29.044012.1@cc.curtin.edu.au> <3623363@zl2tnm.gen.nz> <WAYNE.92Dec30093950@backbone.uucp> <markg.79.726169747@county.lmt.mn.org> <1993Jan6.171242.2895@lsl.co.uk> <RABIN.93Jan7132015@nuthatch.CS.Yale.Edu>
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:09:17 GMT
- Lines: 36
-
- In <RABIN.93Jan7132015@nuthatch.CS.Yale.Edu> rabin@CS.Yale.Edu (Dan Rabin) writes:
-
- >According to a book I have read that explains the Arabic alphabet,
- >numerals in Arabic documents are written most-significant-digit
- >leftmost, whereas the text itself is written from right to left.
- >Hence the native reader encounters the least-significant digit first
- >in his or her accustomed reading order. There's no reason to believe
- >that Arabic-speaking arithmetic has suffered as a result.
- >
- > [...]
- >
- > -- Dan Rabin (rabin-dan@cs.yale.edu)
-
- I believe that in Arabic and Hebrew (both read right to left),
- numbers are also spoken least-significant-digit first e.g. 345
- is read as five-and-four-tens-and-three-hundreds.
-
- So their system is completely consistent, *and* doesn't require
- pre-scanning the number to find which radix power to start at.
- The disadvantage, of course, is that you don't know the magnitude
- of the number until the very end of the reading process.
-
- [Imagine a phone call from your accountant in Arabic or Hebrew ...
- Accountant: You have made pretax profits of $hekels three and forty
- and six hundred and nine thousand.
- You: Good!
- Accountant: And your tax liability is $hekels nine and thirty and
- four hundred ...
- You: Excellent!
- Accountant: ... and eight thousand!
- --
-
- ===============================================================================
- Dave | dsg@imp.co.uk | +44 753 516599 | I am not a .sig virus, I am a free bug!
- ===============================================================================
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