Indian Numerals in the Mediterranean Basin in the Twelfth Century, with Special Reference to the "Eastern Forms"

The Arabic numerals which are now used universally are of ultimately Indian origin and were called “Indian” by Arabic, Greek and Latin scholars of the Middle Ages. The time, place and context of their introduction and development in all three language cultures are still obscure. This article seeks to illuminate, in particular, the use of one kind of Indian numeral (the “Eastern forms”) which was shared by Arabic, Greek and Latin mathematicians in Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean in the twelfth century. By the early thirteenth century this kind had been displaced in Latin contexts by the “Western forms” which are the ancestors of our present Arabic numerals

Ancient history · Archaeology · Arithmetic · Geography · Mediterranean Basin · Mediterranean climate · Numeral system · Structural basin · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Mathematics · Geology · Paleontology