Arabic numeric forms whose meaning is numeric are written left-to-right.
However, in things such as part numbers, such forms don't necessarily have
numeric meaning (they could be considered names), so conceivably they could
be construed as right-to-left.
I wonder what the convention is in the various Arabic-speaking regions. If
you order part number QB-362K78 over the phone, do you read the numeric
value (l2r) or the names of the digits (r2l)?
There is also the traditional abjad numbering system, which assigns numeric
values to the letters of the abjadiyya. Numeric expression in this system
are written left-to-right; also the sequencing of numerically value letters
does not follow alphabetic order (which means, incidentally, that the word
"abjad" frequently used as the name of the "alphabet" is, strictly speaking,
incorrect, though it is used in some Arabic countries.) More info at
http://www.datalogics.com/xml/xsl/wg/lextype.htm#abjad
-gregg
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chookij Vanatham [mailto:chookij.vanatham@eng.sun.com]
> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 1999 2:29 PM
> To: Unicode List
> Subject: arabic number in bidi algorithm
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> According to the Bidi algorithm, the arabic number (U+0671 -
> U+0679) has the
> strong type, RIGHT-TO-LEFT. So, regardless of RLO and RLE,
> can I say that
> the arabic number (U+0671 - U+0679) would be always written
> from RIGHT to LEFT.
> This is confused me due to I see that, in miscrosoft word
> (arabic version),
> the arabic number is written from LEFT to RIGHT.
>
> May be someone can let me know which one is right or I miss anything ?
>
> Thanks a lot.
>
> Chookij V.
>
>
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