3 ms·
A wax or clay tablet or flat patch of dirt and a stick, piece of bark or wood and charcoal, etc. don’t have enough advantage for anyone to bother organizing the
by jacobolus 5y ago
A wax or clay tablet or flat patch of dirt and a stick, piece of bark or wood and charcoal, etc. don’t have enough advantage for anyone to bother organizing their accounting or calculation system around them. They are on the whole inferior to the existing system. Trying to introduce them to people 2000+ years ago might have a chance, but it would be a tough sell.
The thing that really spread Hindu numbers around the world was access to paper.
- dredmorbius 5y agoIs there any evidence / record that Hindu / Arabic numerals and paper co-dispersed?
- jacobolus 5y agoI am not an expert. My impression is that in India “Hindu” numerals and arithmetic were developed using some kind of erasable board, but among Arabic speakers (and later Europeans) the spread of Hindu numerals went along with paper as a prerequisite technology. This looks relevant https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/f/704/files/2019/05/Islam.atCenter.JWH_.09.pdf https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/f/704/file... Here is a relevant looking book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300089554/paper-print https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300089554/paper-print In e.g. Britain, the transition to Hindu numerals did not occur until 1600–1800, depending on the place.
- jacobolus 5y agohttps://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2017.59 https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2017.59 is interesting
- dredmorbius 5y agoThanks.
- dredmorbius 5y agoIt's probably worth noting that Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli's dates are c. 1447 – 19 June 1517, shortly after Gutenberg and about 50--100 years after cheap papermaking (comparatively) first reached Europe. It's hard to have double-entry bookkeeping without books. I'm unsure if he used Arabic or Roman notation... Though the dedication page of Summa Mathematica in fact does include recognisable Hindu / Arabic numerals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_de_arithmetica#/media/File%3ALucas_de_Burgo%2C_Dedication_page%2C_%22Somma_di_aritmetica%22_Wellcome_L0006607.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_de_arithmetica#/media/Fi... Wikipedia's article has several illustrations, but none of the actual bookkeeping notation itself, which is ... a curious oversight. Continued on the double-entry bookkeeping article as well FWIW. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli