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I
n Greek, each unit (1, 2, ..., 9) was assigned a separate
letter, each tens (10, 20, ..., 90) a separate letter, and
each hundreds (100, 200, ..., 900) a separate letter. This
requires 27 letters, so the 24-letter alphabet was extended
by using three obsolete letters: digamma ϝ (also
used are stigma ϛ or,
in modern Greek, στ)
for 6, qoppa ϙ for
90, and sampi ϡ for
900.
This alphabetic system operates on the additive principle in
which the numeric values of the letters are added together
to form the total. For example, 241 is represented as σμα
(200 + 40 + 1).
From Wikipedia
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