Steve Lelievre wrote: > This is off-topic, but why are they called Arabic numerals? Presumably > because the system of positional significance is Arabic in origin?
The system of decimal positional numeration is not Arabic in origin: for centuries, the Arabo-islamic scientists have always stated that this system was of Indian origin (which by the way proves that they were real open-minded scientists). The (east) Arabic mathematicians called these numerals 'arquam al hindi' (indian numerals). They are plenty of references to show this. The so-called Arabic numerals had actually been used long by these (west) Arabic scientists (North Africa, Spain), and were introduced in the Western world by them by the end of the Xth century: that's the reason why they have been called 'Arabic'. > Also, real Arabic digits look nothing like the digits in the West (see > attached for 0 to 9, Arabic style). Why and when did the differences arise? Well... they are not 'that' different either: just turn 2 and 3, or 7 for example. The differences are the result of an evolution which essentially took place during the XIIth century, it seems. Thierry Bruxelles / Belgium
