3 ms·
Why must the alphabet have a "canonical" order? It seems like the alphabet has an order for recitation purposes and for convenience when ordering things. Reci
by tutwabee 17y ago
Why 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.