Arabic-Indic Digit Five

They are regional forms of one Indian-derived decimal tradition.

٥ follows the Arabic-Indic convention; Persian and Urdu use ۵. In mixed right-to-left text, these forms have different directionality rules and can change line layout.

Indian place-value notation included zero and let a digit’s position set its value. A seventh-century report records Indian calculation in lands soon to become part of the Arab world; direct evidence for positional Arabic numerals appears by the mid-tenth century. The mathematician al-Uqlidisi described moving dust-board calculations—temporary arithmetic traced on a dusted board—to paper.