Greek Numeral

Greek Numeral or Greek Number:

Greek Numeral or Greek Number are a system of representing numbers using the letters of the Greek alphabet. As the name 'alphabetical' suggests the numerals are based on giving values to the letters of the alphabet. There are 27 letters in the Greek alphabet in which 3 letters (digamma, koppa, and san) are obsolete ones. So there are 24 letters in classical Greek alphabet.

Classical Greek Alphabet:

Name	Upper case	Lowercase
Alpha	Α	α
Beta	Β	β
Gamma	Γ	γ
Delta	Δ	δ
Epsilon	Ε	ε
Digamma	Obsolete	Obsolete
Zeta	Ζ	ζ
Eta	Η	η
Theta	Θ	θ
Iota	Ι	ι
Kappa	Κ	κ
Lambda	Λ	λ
Mu	Μ	μ
Nu	Ν	ν
Xi or ksi	Ξ	ξ
Omicron	Ο	ο
Pi	Π	π
Koppa	Obsolete	Obsolete
Rho	Ρ	ρ
Sigma	Σ	σ
Tau	Τ	τ
Upsilon	Υ	υ
Phi	Φ	φ
Chi	Χ	χ
Psi	Ψ	ψ
Omega	Ω	ω
San or sampi	Obsolete	Obsolete

The first nine of these letters were taken as the symbols for 1, 2, ... , 9.

Symbol	Value
α	1
β	2
γ	3
δ	4
ε	5
ϛ	6
ζ	7
η	8
θ	9

The next nine letters were taken as the symbols for 10, 20, ... , 90.

Symbol	Value
ι	10
κ	20
λ	30
μ	40
ν	50
ξ	60
ο	70
π	80
ϟ	90

The remaining nine letters were taken as the symbols for 100, 200, ... , 900.

Symbol	Value
ρ	100
σ	200
τ	300
υ	400
φ	500
χ	600
ψ	700
ω	800
ϡ	900

Numbers were formed by the additive principle. For example 21, 22, ... , 29 were written:

Symbol	Value
κα	21
κβ	22
κγ	23
κδ	24
κε	25
κϛ	26
κζ	27
κη	28
κθ	29

Numbers 221,222, ... , 229 were written:

Symbol	Value
σκα	221
σκβ	222
σκγ	223
σκδ	224
σκε	225
σκϛ	226
σκζ	227
σκη	28
σκθ	229

Alphabetic Greek Numerals:

	Units	Tens	Hundreds
1	α	ι	ρ
2	β	κ	σ
3	γ	λ	τ
4	δ	μ	υ
5	ε	ν	φ
6	ϛ	ξ	χ
7	ζ	ο	ψ
8	η	π	ω
9	θ	ϟ	ϡ

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Related topics:
Indian Numeral   |   Hindu Arabic Numeral   |   Roman Numeral   |   Number System   |   Numeral System

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List of topics: Maths

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