Editing 3 (section)

==Evolution of the Arabic digit==
[[File:Evolution3glyph.png|x50px|left]]
The use of three lines to denote the number 3 occurred in many writing systems, including some (like Roman and [[Chinese numerals]]) that are still in use. That was also the original representation of 3 in the [[Brahmic numerals|Brahmic]] (Indian) numerical notation, its earliest forms aligned vertically.<ref name="Smith Karpinski 1911">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=David Eugene |last2=Karpinski |first2=Louis Charles |author1-link=David Eugene Smith |author2-link=Louis Charles Karpinski |title=The Hindu-Arabic numerals |date=1911 |publisher=Ginn and Company |location=Boston; London |pages=27–29, 40–41 |url=https://archive.org/details/hinduarabicnumer00smitrich/}}</ref>  However, during the [[Gupta Empire]] the sign was modified by the addition of a curve on each line. The [[Nāgarī script]] rotated the lines clockwise, so they appeared horizontally, and ended each line with a short downward stroke on the right. In cursive script, the three strokes were eventually connected to form a glyph resembling a {{angbr|3}} with an additional stroke at the bottom: '''३'''.

The Indian digits spread to the [[Caliphate]] in the 9th century.  The bottom stroke was dropped around the 10th century in the western parts of the Caliphate, such as the [[Maghreb]] and [[Al-Andalus]], when a distinct variant ("Western Arabic") of the digit symbols developed, including modern Western 3.  In contrast, the Eastern Arabs retained and enlarged that stroke, rotating the digit once more to yield the modern ("Eastern") [[Arabic script|Arabic]] digit "'''٣'''".<ref>Georges Ifrah, ''The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'' transl. David Bellos et al. London: The Harvill Press (1998): 393, Fig. 24.63</ref>

In most modern Western [[typeface]]s, the digit 3, like the other [[decimal digit]]s, has the height of a [[capital letter]], and sits on the [[baseline (typography)|baseline]].  In typefaces with [[text figures]], on the other hand, the glyph usually has the height of a [[lowercase letter]] "x" and a [[descender]]: "[[File:Text figures 036.svg|50px]]". In some [[French language|French]] text-figure typefaces, though, it has an [[ascender (typography)|ascender]] instead of a descender.

{{anchor|Flat-topped 3}}
A common graphic variant of the digit three has a flat top, similar to the letter [[Ʒ]] (ezh). This form, sometimes called a '''banker's 3''', can stop a forger from turning the 3 into an 8. It is found on [[Universal Product Code|UPC-A]] barcodes and [[standard 52-card deck]]s.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}