The Emergence of Arabic Numerals: When Did They First Appear?

[Article déjà publié le 23 mars 2024]

Numbers in History

“We should rather talk about Indo-Arabic numbers, because they are closely linked to Indian tradition,” specifies Marc Moyon, historian of mathematics at the University of Limoges. The Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (around 780-around 850) wrote a work or adapted one from India on this other system of writing numbers, or numeration.

As a result the Book on Indian calculuswhich describes for the first time in Arabic the nine new symbols and the zero (with a different spelling from the current numbers, the results of a long evolution).

From Indian calculation to Indo-Arabic numerals

Indian calculation is with positional decimal numeration. In other words, the position of each digit indicates its value, all in base 10. This system is more efficient than the Roman system for writing long numbers and solving complex calculations. However, these new figures will take time to establish themselves in Europe.

The original text of al-Khwarizmi has been lost over time, but there are still Arabic-Latin translations/adaptations of his work made in Spain in the 12th century.^e century. At the beginning of the 13th^e century appears Liber abaciOr Book of calculationswritten by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (c. 1170-after 1241). The latter learned in Béjaïa (present-day Algeria), a Pisan trading post where his father was stationed, the rules of Indian calculation which he transcribed in his work. Then begins the teaching of Indo-Arabic numerals… under certain conditions.

Centuries to establish itself…

“Accountants were strictly forbidden to use positional decimal numeration, probably for fear of cheating that would be difficult to verify,” indicates Marc Moyon. Roman and Indo-Arabic systems will coexist for several centuries.

The current spelling is fixed at the XV^e century, with an eastern version (Middle East and Near East) and a western version (first in the Maghreb then spread from Spain to all of Europe). In France, we would have to wait at least until the Renaissance to see Indo-Arabic numerals establish themselves in all strata of society.