No, Gov. Brown isn't invoking Sharia law via 'Arabic numbers.' Satiric photo fools some
This week in the world of fake news, a recent satiric post criticizing California Gov. Jerry Brown for passing a fictional law made some readers laugh, angered others, and likely prompted some people to brush up on their math lingo.
Spreading quickly online, a captioned Facebook photo of Brown posted Tuesday by satire blog Last Line of Defense reads: "SHARIA Law Must Be Stopped! Under Gov. Brown, students in California are now required to learn ARABIC numerals. Comment 1-10 how much this angers you."
How quickly one realizes the photo is satire might depend on how much attention they paid in math class. If you took thorough notes, you might know that Arabic numerals, aka Hindu-Arabic numerals, are the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9—the ones Americans and a large majority of the world use every day. Other, less-used systems include Roman and Indian numerals.
The accompanying story takes the joke a step further: "It also requires that students in 4th grade learn about Islam and Sharia Law, saving Christianity for the 7th Grade," the story says. "If you want Arabic numerals, go to Arabia," it ends.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article205625439.html