Is it only if it’s the first number? I was confused why both 1s weren’t written like that, and was wondering if it was a weird way to write a 0 or something (idk if those would be accurate mid-medieval homes, probably not)
Not at all. In France it’s very common to have roughly the same proportions for the upstroke and downstroke. Both the first and second 1s are perfectly valid and legible and variations come with handwriting. However the downstroke should roughly end at least at the same level as the upstroke’s start.
See this quickly made example, 147 written in French style (above) and English style (below) in my shitty phone handwriting.
As you can see, 1 takes a single stroke and 7 two so we can’t mix them.
You also see people tracing the 4 as a zigzag shape, in one lazy stroke. I tend to do that, but I don’t know if it’s a specifically French thing.
Fun fact about the 7: even in France, you don’t cross them when doing chord notation (in classical music at least), because a crossed number means it’s a diminished intervall. That’s not a problem because the digit 1 isn’t used when numbering chords.
Is it only if it’s the first number? I was confused why both 1s weren’t written like that, and was wondering if it was a weird way to write a 0 or something (idk if those would be accurate mid-medieval homes, probably not)
That’s funny, my French eye didn’t even notice the difference between the 1s before reading your comment!
Not at all. In France it’s very common to have roughly the same proportions for the upstroke and downstroke. Both the first and second 1s are perfectly valid and legible and variations come with handwriting. However the downstroke should roughly end at least at the same level as the upstroke’s start.
See this quickly made example, 147 written in French style (above) and English style (below) in my shitty phone handwriting.
As you can see, 1 takes a single stroke and 7 two so we can’t mix them.
You also see people tracing the 4 as a zigzag shape, in one lazy stroke. I tend to do that, but I don’t know if it’s a specifically French thing.
Fun fact about the 7: even in France, you don’t cross them when doing chord notation (in classical music at least), because a crossed number means it’s a diminished intervall. That’s not a problem because the digit 1 isn’t used when numbering chords.