Many mathematical books from the Greeks and Hindus were translated in Baghdad and travelled the West. On its way to the West the Hindu method of writing numerals soon became known to the Arabs who had established a world empire from the 7th Century. Knowledge of the Hindu decimal system was early in reaching the West (AD662). This system quickly came into use - probably earliest symbol for zero was a dot and not a small circle. digits arranged in normal way zero is used, place value notation is used for the numerator and denominator of the fraction. Nagari numerals are very similar to our own. The most important as well as the most widely used place - value symbols are those belonging to the Nagari script numerals 1 - 9, very similar to the Brahmi numerals. They knew about Babylonian place value system - knew about greek astronomy and its notation and may have encountered the small circle indicating a zero. Hindus used counting boards - had tens units columns.Ī lot of astronomical activity at this time - had to use large numbers. Hindu counting system was purely decimal and distinct symbols for the numbers 1 - 9 existed already.Ī notation for high powers of ten existed already. What was favourable to the development of a decimal place value system in India? Tens were written with individual symbols - obstacle on the way towards a consistent place value system.įrom 100 onwards numbers were represented according to another principle - 2 new symbols 1 - named place value system.Įxtending Hindu system towards a place value system The existence of special symbols for the figures 1 - 9 was a typical and important characteristic of Hindu arithmetic and provided the prerequisite for the rise of the decimal place - value system. In Sanskrit there are number words for 1-9, 10, 100 and further powers of 10 - up to 10 - definitely a decimal system.īrahmi inscriptions have been found all over the subcontinent of India - date from C3BC. They introduced Sanskrit - earliest knowledge of maths from this time. In 3000BC the Hindus culture flourished and large numbers were used (inscriptions).įrom the middle of 2000BC Indo-European tribes were making their way from the N.W. Our decimal system is descendent from this system. Only the Hindus within the context of Indo-European civilisations have consistently used a zero. Hindu system is a pure place value system, that is why you need a zero.
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