Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY

Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY

Al-Khwarizmi

Awake!—2015 | May
- When people measure their weight or tally the cost of their groceries, many use Hindu-Arabic numerals. Why “Hindu-Arabic”? The basis of the modern number system that uses the digits zero to nine appears to have developed in India and to have made it to the West by way of medieval scholars who wrote in Arabic.

Al-Khwarizmi

Awake!—2015 | May
- The Italian mathematician Fibonacci (c. 1170-1250), also known as Leonardo of Pisa, is generally credited with popularizing Hindu-Arabic numerals in the West. He learned about them during his travels in the Mediterranean world and thereafter wrote his Book of Calculation.

Al-Khwarizmi

Awake!—2015 | May
- Prototypes of modern numerals were being used in India as early as the third century B.C.E.

Al-Khwarizmi

Awake!—2015 | May
- “Modern Western numerals may be a conglomeration from different sources. However, as far as is known, the country that first used the largest number of these numeral forms is India.”—Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
  
  In Europe, Hindu-Arabic numerals “became commonly known during the 15th century.”—Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Medieval World.

Al-Khwarizmi

Awake!—2015 | May