interesting that Fibonacci was a significant in spreading the arabic number system in europe .. but the number order wasn't reversed to account for our writing in the other direction ... thus the reason we all write numbers backwards.
.. plus .. while on the subject of direction .. why was APL thus J direction of evaluation set to be right to left? .. wouldn't it'd be more natural as left to right? (ie. the same direction as writing, or the direction which represents the progression of time) On 2011-08-13 20:25, Joey K Tuttle wrote: > A friend pointed me to an NPR audio segment - > > http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201108124 > > Which is an author interview, abstract - > > How Leonardo of Pisa, aka Fibonacci, Introduced The World To Numbers > > To carry out their calculations, merchants in the early 13th century > used an abacus or a system called finger reckoning. Commerce changed > when Leonardo of Pisa -- known today as Fibonacci -- published the > first arithmetic textbook. Mathematician Keith Devlin talks about the > history of arithmetic and his new book The Man of Numbers: > Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution. > > > ~~ > > An interesting remark in the interview is that the sequence we are > fond of was an incidental example among many that Fibonacci used to > stir up interest. > > The talk show hawks the Devlin's new book "The Man of Numbers: > Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution" and a companion ebook "Leonardo > and Steve: The Young Genius Who Beat Apple to Market by 800 Years" - > they look interesting, especially the cheap ($3) Kindle book which > purports to be the core content of the longer book. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
