Editing 2 (section)

== Evolution of the Arabic digit ==
[[Image:Evolution2glyph.png|x50px|left]]
The digit used in the modern Western world to represent the number 2 traces its roots back to the Indic [[Brahmic script]], where "2" was written as two horizontal lines. The modern [[Chinese written language|Chinese]] and [[Japanese writing system|Japanese]] languages (and Korean [[Hanja]]) still use this method. The [[Gupta script]] rotated the two lines 45&nbsp;degrees, making them diagonal. The top line was sometimes also shortened and had its bottom end curve towards the center of the bottom line. In the [[Devanagari|Nagari]] script, the top line was written more like a curve connecting to the bottom line. In the Arabic [[Ghubār numerals|Ghubar]] writing, the bottom line was completely vertical, and the digit looked like a dotless closing question mark. Restoring the bottom line to its original horizontal position, but keeping the top line as a curve that connects to the bottom line leads to our modern digit.<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. 24.62</ref>