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Er... Author has it backwards. The question isn't "Why ABC?" It's "Why not some other order?" The "ABC" ordering probably won for the same reason as the "QWE
by amalcon 17y ago
Er... Author has it backwards. The question isn't "Why ABC?" It's "Why not some other order?"
The "ABC" ordering probably won for the same reason as the "QWERTY" layout won in the U.S: because that's what everyone learned with, so that's what everyone teaches with.
There's going to be some "canonical" order for something like an alphabet, and whatever order that was, we'd be sitting here today asking "Why this order?" If there is no obviously better order, then this one's simply as likely as any other.
- robg 17y agoWhy is the alphabet in any (never mind some particular) prescribed order? Obvious (to me) answer: to make it easier for kids to memorize. It's working, too. Notwithstanding its inscrutable origins, ABC order as we know it now has survived more or less intact for upwards of 3,000 years.
- tutwabee 17y agoWhy must the alphabet have a "canonical" order? It seems like the alphabet has an order for recitation purposes and for convenience when ordering things. Recitation seems unnecessary in teaching alphabets and as long as numbers are well-known and are distinct from letters, then they could be used to order items in daily life.
- tokenadult 17y agoNumbers (numerals) were not distinct from letters in the West for a long time. China didn't have "letters," and did have Chinese characters that serve as numerals (with place value notation probably coming later there than in India, although some Chinese scholars like to claim priority for that over India). By the time the West had numerals, it had had a well established alphabetical order for more than a millennium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals
- klipt 17y agoTo put it in computer science lingo: an ordered datatype is easier to search and sort.