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Yeah, I found that fascinating too when I first found out about it: the Arabs invented the concept of decimal numbers, but the characters they use are mostly co
by rob74 5y ago
Yeah, I found that fascinating too when I first found out about it: the Arabs invented the concept of decimal numbers, but the characters they use are mostly completely different: 0 is just a dot, 1 is a more or less vertical line, the only number instantly recognizable is the 9 (https://www.lexisrex.com/Arabic-Numbers/1-100 https://www.lexisrex.com/Arabic-Numbers/1-100)
- unmole 5y ago> the Arabs invented the concept of decimal numbers No, it was invented by Indian mathematicians.
- msravi 5y agoNo, the Arabs didn't invent it. al-Khwarzimi, a Persian scholar, introduced it into the Arab world with his book: "On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals" around 820 CE. The Hindu Bakhshali manuscript carbon-dated to between 200-400 CE, uses the "shunya" or zero symbol both as a placeholder in the decimal place-value system, and as a numeral involved in computations.
- foxhop 5y agoTurn 2 and 3 on their side and they become our version.
- bee_rider 5y agoI can definitely see how 4 could become our version, especially if it needed to be written in a way that distinguishes it from epsilon as it spread into Europe.