Arabic numerals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arabic numerals, also called
Hindu-Arabic numerals[1][2] or
Hindu numerals,
[3]are the ten
digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, based on the
Hindu–Arabic numeral system,
[4] the most common system for the symbolic representation of
numbers in the world today. In this system, a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a single number, using the position of the digit in the sequence to interpret its value. The symbol for
zero is the key to the effectiveness of the system, which was developed by ancient
mathematicians in the Indian subcontinent around AD 500.
[4]
The system was adopted by
Arab mathematicians in
Baghdad and passed on to the Arabs farther west. There is some evidence to suggest that the numerals in their current form developed from
Arabic letters in the
Maghreb, the western region of the
Arab world.
[5] The current form of the numerals developed in North Africa, distinct in form from the Indian and eastern Arabic numerals. It was in the North African city of
Bejaia that the
Italian scholar
Fibonacci first encountered the numerals; his work was crucial in making them known throughout Europe and then further to the Europeans who spread it worldwide. The use of Arabic numerals spread around the world through European trade, books and
colonialism.
The term
Arabic numerals is ambiguous. It most commonly refers to the numerals widely used in Europe and the Americas; to avoid confusion,
Unicode calls these
European digits.
Arabic numerals is also the conventional name for the entire family of related numerals of Arabic and
Indian numerals. It may also be intended to mean the numerals used by Arabs, in which case it generally refers to the
Eastern Arabic numerals. It would be more appropriate to refer to the
Arabic numeral system, where the value of a digit in a number depends on its position.
Although the phrase "Arabic numeral" is frequently capitalized, it is sometimes written in lower case: for instance, in its entry in the
Oxford English Dictionary,
[6] which helps to distinguish it from "Arabic numerals" as the East Arabic numerals specific to the Arabs.
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