Heaven knows I'm way out of my league here, but wouldn't the way Americans
now juggle back and forth between feet, inches, and meters and millimeters
or gallons and liters offer a rough analogy of what it must have been like
as people gradually adopted Arabic numbers? Eventually, you sort of get
the hang of it conceptually and practically.
John S.
____________________________________________________________________________
John Shinners e-mail:[log in to unmask]
Chair and Professor Phone: (office): (219) 284-4494
Humanistic Studies Program Phone (dept.): (219) 284-4501
Saint Mary's College Fax: (219) 284-4716
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|