How did Arabic numerals come about? Arabic numerals: who invented them? What is the correct name for Arabic numbering?

They are simpler and more convenient to use; all civilized states have been using them for calculations for several centuries. Scientists still argue about their origin today. Many of them consider the name “Arabic numerals” to be a consequence of a historical error and claim that their homeland is India.

A brief excursion into history

When and where did Arabic numerals originate? The history of their appearance remains a mystery today. Characteristic symbols are found in documents dating back to the 4th century, compiled in India.

The Indian version of their origin has been considered the main one since the 18th century. The Russian orientalist Khera spent a long time figuring out who invented the numerical symbols, and came to the conclusion that they were invented not just anywhere, but in India.

This hypothesis is supported by the peculiarities of writing the characters - from left to right. In Arabic they are written from right to left. There is a second proof of the Indian origin of numbers - “The Book of Indian Accounting,” written by the famous medieval mathematician Abu Musa al-Khwarizmi.

The scientist was born in 783 and died in 850. In his treatise, Abu Musa described in detail the numbers and the decimal system. His work has partially survived to this day, but from the name it is already clear who created the existing number system.

Further research on this topic states that the number signs originate from the Indian Devangari alphabet and correspond to the style of the initial letters of numerals in Sanskrit.

There is another explanation, according to which the indicated signs are segments connected to each other at right angles. The number of angles formed corresponded to one, two, and so on.

Zero

Zero did not have a single angle, but it itself acquired its full functions later than the other signs of the number series. In Europe, the symbol "0" was not used until the 12th century, although such attempts were made in prehistoric times.

The first written evidence of the use of a sign resembling a modern zero was discovered in the territory of Babylon. According to experts, the documents date back to the 3rd-2nd millennia BC. At that time, “0” was not used as an independent number - only as an auxiliary sign to identify tens, hundreds and thousands.

The introduction of zero, also attributed to an Indian mathematician, was a breakthrough and gave rise to positional notation of numbers.

Conquest of Europe

In the Middle Ages, Europeans used Roman numerals, although they were in contact with Arab and African countries and probably heard messages on the topic of Arabic numerals.

In their current spelling, they originated in the North African city of Bijan, near Algeria. This is the merit of the famous mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, better known under the pseudonym Fibonacci. He is the author of the modern digital system and has largely contributed to its popularization and dissemination throughout the world.

Europeans were introduced to new numerical signs by another scientist, Herbert of Aurillac. This happened at the end of the 10th century in Spain. The Europeans resisted and did not accept the “know-how” for a long time.

Almost no one used them in everyday life, although university students studied the Arabic number system. What is the reason for the everyday suspicion of citizens?

The explanation is simple - Europeans were confused by the ease of writing symbols and the ability to quickly correct 1 to 7, add a second number to the front or back. And this is already a high risk of fraud. The authorities of Florence went so far as to prohibit officials and citizens from using Indian accounts at work and at home - this happened in 1299. It took Europeans more than a century and a half to appreciate its advantages and abandon the Roman system.

All people from early childhood are familiar with the numbers with which they count objects. There are only ten of them: from 0 to 9. That is why the number system is called decimal. Using them you can write down absolutely any number.

For thousands of years, people have used their fingers to mark numbers. Today, the decimal system is used everywhere: to measure time, when selling and buying something, in various calculations. Each person has his own numbers, for example, in his passport, on a credit card.

By milestones of history

People are so accustomed to numbers that they don’t even think about their importance in life. Probably many have heard that the numbers that are used are called Arabic. Some were taught this at school, while others learned it by accident. So why are the numbers called Arabic? What is their story?

And it is very confusing. There are no reliably accurate facts about their origin. It is known for sure that it is worth thanking the ancient astronomers. Because of them and their calculations, people today have numbers. Astronomers from India, somewhere between the 2nd and 6th centuries, became acquainted with the knowledge of their Greek colleagues. From there the sexagesimal and round zero were taken. Greek was then combined with the Chinese decimal system. The Hindus began to denote numbers with one sign, and their method quickly spread throughout Europe.

Why are numbers called Arabic?

From the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, Eastern civilization actively developed. This was especially noticeable in the field of science. Great attention was paid to mathematics and astronomy. That is, accuracy was held in high esteem. Throughout the Middle East, the city of Baghdad was considered the main center of science and culture. And all because it was geographically very advantageous. The Arabs did not hesitate to take advantage of this and actively adopted many useful things from Asia and Europe. Baghdad often gathered prominent scientists from these continents, who passed on experience and knowledge to each other and talked about their discoveries. At the same time, the Indians and Chinese used their own number systems, which consisted of only ten characters.

It wasn't invented by the Arabs. They simply highly appreciated their advantages compared to the Roman and Greek systems, which were considered the most advanced in the world at that time. But it is much more convenient to display indefinitely with only ten characters. The main advantage of Arabic numerals is not the ease of writing, but the system itself, since it is positional. That is, the position of the digit affects the value of the number. This is how people define units, tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on. It is not surprising that Europeans also took this into account and adopted Arabic numerals. What wise scientists there were in the East! Today this seems very surprising.

Writing

What do Arabic numerals look like? Previously, they were composed of broken lines, where the number of angles was compared with the size of the sign. Most likely, Arab mathematicians expressed the idea that it was possible to associate the number of angles with the numerical value of a digit. If you look at the ancient spelling, you can see how big the Arabic numerals are. What kind of abilities did scientists have in such ancient times?

So, zero has no angles when written. The unit includes only one acute angle. The deuce contains a pair of acute angles. A three has three corners. Its correct Arabic spelling is obtained by drawing the postal code on envelopes. The quad includes four corners, the last of which creates the tail. The five has five right angles, and the six, respectively, has six. With the correct old spelling, seven has seven corners. Eight - out of eight. And nine, it’s not hard to guess, is out of nine. That is why the numbers are called Arabic: they invented the original style.

Hypotheses

Today there is no clear opinion about the formation of the writing of Arabic numerals. No scientist knows why certain numbers look the way they do and not some other way. What were ancient scientists guided by when giving numbers shapes? One of the most plausible hypotheses is the one with the number of angles.

Of course, over time, all the corners of the numbers were smoothed out, they gradually acquired the appearance familiar to modern people. And for a huge number of years, Arabic numerals around the world have been used to denote numbers. It's amazing that just ten characters can convey unimaginably large meanings.

Results

Another answer to the question of why numbers are called Arabic is the fact that the word “number” itself is also of Arabic origin. Mathematicians translated the Hindu word “sunya” into their native language and it turned out “sifr”, which is already similar to what is pronounced today.

This is all that is known about why the numbers are called Arabic. Perhaps modern scientists will still make some discoveries in this regard and shed light on their occurrence. In the meantime, people are content with only this information.

Ⅰ – 1 ; ⅩⅠ - 11

Ⅱ – 2 ; ⅩⅡ - 12

Ⅲ – 3 ; ⅩⅢ - 13

Ⅳ – 4 ; ⅩⅣ - 14

Ⅴ – 5 ; ⅩⅤ - 15

Ⅵ – 6 ; ⅩⅥ - 16

Ⅶ – 7 ; ⅩⅦ - 17

Ⅷ – 8 ; ⅩⅧ - 18

Ⅸ – 9 ; ⅩⅨ - 19

Ⅹ – 10 ; ⅩⅩ - 20

Ⅽ – 50 ; ⅩⅩⅠ - 21

Arabic for Arabs = Indian in Devanagari script = understandable to us

This page contains beautiful Arabic numerals, which cannot be typed from the keyboard. They can be copied and pasted where the font cannot be changed (on social networks). In addition to the numbers that Europeans use, there are also real ones - those that the Arabs themselves use. And for the set, let the Indian ones also lie there. They won’t ask for food, I hope. They are all from Unicode, you can find out more about them by entering them into the search on the site.

A little history. It is believed that the Arabic number system originated in India around the 5th century. Although, it is possible that even earlier in Babylon. Arabic numbers are called because they came to Europe from the Arabs. First, in the Muslim part of Spain, and in the 10th century, Pope Sylvester II also called for the abandonment of the cumbersome Latin notation. A serious impetus for the dissemination of Arabic numerals was the translation into Latin of Al-Khorezmi’s book “On Indian Accounting”.

The Hindu-Arabic number system is decimal. Any number is made up of 10 characters. Unicode, by the way, uses hexadecimal numbers. It is more convenient than the Roman one because it is positional. In such systems, the value that a digit denotes depends on its position in the number. In the number 90, the number 9 means ninety, and in the number 951, nine hundred. In non-positional systems, the location of the symbol does not play such a role. The Roman X means ten in both the number XII and the number MXC. Many peoples wrote numbers in a similar non-positional way. Among the Greeks and Slavs, some letters of the alphabet also had a numerical value.

Known as "Arabic", these are modified forms of Indian numerals and were introduced by Al-Khawarizmi. There are two sets of numbers based on Indian characters. One of them was used in the eastern part of the Muslim world and is known as "Indo-Arabic numerals", or simply "Indian numerals". The other (“Gubbaria”) became widespread in the western part of the Muslim world, from where it came to Europe and became known as “Arabic numerals,” gradually taking on its modern form.

Western Arabic numbers were called “gubbariyya”, since the Arabs used a counting board covered with dust (in Arabic “gubar” - “dust”). People wrote with a finger or some other object on a surface with a thin layer of dust or sand, and then erased it.


The number “zero” was initially not oval, but round. The circle was chosen to convert the Indian symbols for zero since it has no angles (the number of angles is zero).

The Indians called zero "sunya""empty". The Arabs translated it with the word that the number of angles is “as-syfr”, which is where the word “digit” comes from (as well as the word “cipher”). The word corresponded to their “digit” (Latin - “ciffra") in European literature originally meant zero, and then 0 began to be called the Latin word "null" (that is, "no"), and the word "digit" is all the signs from 0 to 9. In Latin manuscripts of the 12-13th centuries. zero is also calledcircullus (“circle”),nihil ("nothing") orfiguranihili (“nothing sign”).

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Muslims remember the blessed water of ZamZam when talking about the Hajj, as well as during illness or any difficulty. Allah Almighty created this water special, and it serves to heal and bless people.

According to legend, the source of Zam-Zam appeared as follows:

When, by the command of Allah, Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, with Hajar and his son Ismail arrived at the territory of the future city of Mecca, there were no inhabitants there. Allah Almighty gave Ibrahim the Revelation to leave his family there. Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon Him, fulfilled what the Creator commanded Him, left Hajar and his son with a vessel of water and left. After the water ran out, little Isma'il began to cry, and His mother began to look for water. She climbed one hill, which is called Safa, and then moved to another hill - Marua. So she walked between them seven times. Allah Almighty saved them by creating the Zam-Zam spring for them.

The word "Zam-Zam" has many meanings, one of which is "sandwiched among the sands." The sacred spring is located next to the Banu Shaiba gate, 18 meters from the Black Stone, not far from the Safa and Marua hills.

Prophet Muhammad in the name of the Prophet "Muhammad" the letter "x" is pronounced like ح in Arabic, peace be upon Him, taught that Zam-Zam is the best water on earth, it strengthens the heart and calms in fear. If you drink ZamZam water with the intention of healing, then by the Will of Allah the person will recover. If someone is thirsty or hungry, then drinking this water with a specific intention will quench his thirst and be full. And if, while drinking, you turn to Allah with some other request, then by the Will of Allah what you want will be received.

Numerous scientific studies have confirmed that Zam-Zam water contains a large number of microelements beneficial to the human body. Among them: calcium, magnesium, fluorides. In addition, water has a constant, unchanging salt composition and taste. It can be stored for years without changing its properties. Nowadays, the composition and taste of Zam-Zam water is the same as it was at the time when the source first appeared. There are no pathogenic microbes in ZamZam water, despite the fact that the water has not been chemically treated or chlorinated. The ZamZam spring never dries up, it is always full of water, despite the fact that other springs in the vicinity of Mecca periodically dry up, and some have disappeared altogether.

For a long time, researchers could not establish where the water in the source came from, but then it turned out that the water flows into the source evenly along the entire perimeter of the pool.

World-famous Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto, who heads a research institute in Tokyo, claims that Zam Zam water has properties that are not found in ordinary water. The researcher was surprised not only by the unique properties of Zamzam water, but also by the fact that the scientific experiments he conducted using nanotechnology could not change them. And also the fact that one drop of sacred water added to 1000 drops of plain water changes the properties of ordinary water to the properties of “Zamzam”.

Dr. Emoto said that he received Zam Zam water from an Arab who lived in Japan. He began to examine it and realized that Zam Zam water is the only water that is not similar in its crystals to any water on earth, no matter where it comes from. Along with this, after each repeated experiment, the crystals of this water showed new and unusual species, which proved that this water is not simple.

A Japanese researcher, who is the founder of a number of theories, discovered the amazing phenomenon that crystals of ordinary water change their properties when “Basmalyah” is read on it, i.e. expressions “Bismillah hir-Rah ma nir-Rahi m.” He confirmed that the words that Muslims say before starting all their business, before eating and before going to bed have an amazing effect on water crystals, and they are transformed into extraordinary beauty. The same beneficial changes occur with water if you play an audio recording of the Holy Quran near it. And when they read one of the 99 most beautiful names of Allah “Al-‘Alim” (the All-Knowing), the water crystals transformed into something amazing, which indicates the greatness of the names of the Almighty.

Another scientist named Mazrugiy commented on the research of Dr. Masaro Emoto, who also observed improvement in water when dua was read on it. And he added that after this one can imagine the effect of prayer or reading the Kurtan on a person who is 70% water.

In our store you can buy it brought from Mecca, undiluted, in its pure form.

“[Truly] Allah is the Creator of the earth and the Lord of the worlds. He raised firmly standing mountains above the earth [so that it would not shake]. He blessed the earth with water, plants, trees and fruits<…>. He made the heavens perfect<…>and decorated the lower sky with luminaries<…>And all this was created exactly as Almighty and All-Knowing Allah wanted.” The meaning of verses 9-16 of Surah Fussylat

One of God's most fascinating creations is the mountains. They amaze with their splendor and grandeur. Near the mountains that rise up, we feel like tiny creatures and are even more convinced of the Omnipotence of the Creator.

The amazing thing is that the strong and massive mountains are not just a mound of rock on the ground! This is confirmed by the latest geological research, but about 1500 years ago the Prophet Muhammad conveyed to people the verses of the Holy Qur'an, which clearly stated that the mountain in fact also goes deep underground and has a “root”.

It is said in the Holy Quran (1): “Don’t they see evidence of the Omnipotence of Allah: the earth, comfortable for life, like a cradle for a baby, and the mountains going deep and serving as supports so that it does not fall apart?!”

This verse says that mountains are driven deep into the earth like piles - they strengthen and hold it. Theologians explained that the depth of the mountains inside the earth is 2 times or more greater than their height above the earth!

And another verse of the Holy Quran (2) says: “And don’t they see the mountains that are erected firmly and do not shake, despite their enormous height?!” Thus, mountains strengthen the earth, just as stakes driven into the soil support a tent. The interpretation of another verse of the Holy Quran (3) says that mountains strengthen the earth, just as an anchor holds a ship.

Mountains not only serve as earth supports, but also keep the earth from shaking. The Holy Quran (Surah An-Nahl, verse 15) says: “Allah has established firmly standing mountains on the earth so that it does not shake.” And some modern geological theories confirm that mountains are stabilizing elements of the earth, and not just “folds of the earth’s crust.”

It is reported that when Allah created the earth, it moved. Seeing this, the angels were surprised: “Can anyone live on it?!” And then Allah created mountains that stopped the earth. It was so amazing that the Angels did not even know what they were made of.

Prophet Muhammad told people that at the End of the World the mountains would be destroyed. It is said in verse 20 of Sura 78 “An-Naba’” meaning that at the End of the World the mountains will disappear like a mirage.

And it is also said in the Holy Quran (Surah Al-Kari'a, verses 4-5) meaning: “On that day people will be like scattered moths, and the mountains will be like torn wool.” That is, the mountains will turn to dust and scatter.

The same is said in verse 88 of Surah An-Naml: meaning: “[At the End of the World] you will see how the mountains, which you considered solid and unshakable, move quickly, like clouds.”

_____________________________

1 meaning of verses 6-7 of Surah An-Naba’

2 meaning of verse 19 of Surah Al-Gashiya

3 meaning of verse 32 of Surah An-Nazi'at

Everything that makes a state great and prosperous, everything that is aimed at perfection and civilization, could be found in Muslim Spain. The Islamic rulers of Al-Andaluz encouraged the development of science and the arts, establishing many scientific centers in which scientists from Europe, Africa and the Middle East came to work and study. Al-Andaluz became a center of civilization and education, where world-famous scientists worked.

One of the first scholars of Al-Andaluz was ‘Abbas ibn Farnas. Like many scientists of that time, he studied various sciences, but most of all he was interested in mechanics. In 880 he designed the first flying machine. Ibn Firnas also developed a new model of a water clock and a certain analogue of a metronome, found a way to make colorless glass, developed various kinds of glass planispheres, made corrective lenses (the so-called 'reading stones'), found a way to cut crystals, invented a system of rings suitable to depict the movement of stars and planets.

Scientists of Islamic Spain made great contributions to the development of mathematics and astronomy. The most prominent mathematician and astronomer of Al-Andaluz in the 10th century was Abul-Qasim Maslama ibn Ahmad Al-Majritiya (Maslama of Madrid) (c. 940-1008).

He wrote a number of books on astronomy and mathematics, worked a lot on the study and Arabic translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, expanded and corrected the astronomical tables of the famous scientist Al-Khawarizmi. He also compiled conversion tables in which the dates of the Persian calendar were correlated with the dates of the Hijri in such a way that events from the history of Persia were accurately dated for the first time. In addition, Maslama Al-Majritiya developed new geodetic methods, and also wrote a book about the economy of Al-Andaluz. Not only was he an outstanding scientist himself, but he also founded a school of astronomy and mathematics, which marked the beginning of organized scientific research in Al-Andaluz.

Ibrahim ibn Yahya An-Na kka w Az-Zarqaliy (1029-1087), known in the West as Arzakel, was a leading mathematician and astronomer of Al-Andaluz in the 11th century. He surpassed other scientists in developing accurate astronomical instruments and designed a water clock that could determine the hours of day and night, as well as showing the days of the lunar months. He made a significant contribution to the compilation of the famous Toledo Tables - a highly accurate systematization of astronomical data. Az-Zarqaliy is also known for his “Book of Tables”, which made it possible to determine the days according to different calendars, as well as the position of the planets at any necessary time.

Scientists in Muslim Spain also made significant contributions to the development of medicine. One of the most famous doctors of Al-Andaluz was Abul-Qasim Az-Zahr aw y (963-1013). His greatest achievements are associated with surgery. He compiled the famous 30-volume medical encyclopedia Al-Tasrif, covering various aspects of medical science. The most important part of this encyclopedia consists of three books on surgery. This encyclopedia was later translated into Latin and used by physicians throughout Europe. Al-Zahrawiy is also known for having invented a number of surgical instruments. He was also an expert in the field of dentistry. Another invention of Az-Zahrawiy is a solid lipstick based on wax, flavors and dyes. Also, such famous Andalusian scientists as Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd (Averroes)(1126-1198) - author of the medical encyclopedia "Kulliyat"; ‘Abdul-Malik ibn Dhuhr (Avenzoar)(1072-1162) - hereditary doctor, author of books on nutrition, dietology and hygiene; (1313-1374) - author of a book on the theory of infectious diseases; Muhammad ibn Zakariya Ar-Raziy(864-925) - author of medical encyclopedias, who was the first to use plaster casts and cotton wool, was an expert in the organization of hospitals and introduced the compilation of medical histories into medical practice. Andalusian doctors also paid attention to ethics and hygiene in medicine. Scientists noted that moral qualities are mandatory for a doctor - he must be sensitive, compassionate, able to withstand harsh criticism, and the doctor must also be clean and behave with dignity.

An important area of ​​study in Al-Andalus was geography. Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ar-Raziy wrote a book on the general geography of Al-Andaluz, Muhammad ibn Yusuf Al-Warraq described the topography of North Africa, and ‘Abdullahh Al-Bakriy (1014- 1094) wrote an encyclopedic reference book of the countries of the world, which included history, descriptions of traditions, climate, largest cities, and even short entertaining stories. Famous travelers also made a great contribution to the development of geography: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jubair(1145-1217), who described his travels in travel diaries, and a famous cartographer Muhammad Al-Idrisiy(1100-1165).

Al-Andaluz scholars also made great contributions to the study of history. Muhammad Lisanud-Din ibn Al-Khatib wrote works Narrative of the History of Granada and History of Muslim Spain, which are important sources on the history of Muslim Spain. A ' Abdurra X m A n ibn Khaldun became famous as the author of the work “The Book of Instructive Examples on the History of the Arabs, Persians and Berbers and their contemporaries who had great power.” Andalusian scientists also developed such sciences as linguistics, sociology, social science, economics, etc. The list of scientific achievements of Muslim scientists in Spain is huge. They developed and introduced many technological innovations in such areas as metal processing, weaving, construction, agriculture and many others.

Alphabetical Abjadia
Armenian
Aryabhata
Cyrillic Greek
Ethiopian
Jewish
Akshara-sankhya Other Babylonian
Egyptian
Etruscan
Roman
Danube Attic
Kipu
Mayan
Aegean
KPPU symbols Positional , , , , , , , , , , Nega-positional Symmetrical Mixed systems Fibonacci Non-positional Unit (unary)

Arabic numerals- traditional name for a set of ten characters: 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ; now used in most countries to write numbers in the decimal system.

Story

Arabic and Indo-Arabic numerals are modified styles of Indian numerals adapted to Arabic writing.

The Indian notation system was widely popularized by the scientist Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, author of the famous work “Kitab al-jabr wa-l-muqabala”, from the name of which the term “algebra” was derived. Al-Khwarizmi wrote a book “On Indian Counting”, which contributed to the popularization of the decimal positional system of recording numbers throughout the Caliphate, right up to Muslim Spain. Vigilan Codex contains the first mention and depiction of Arabic numerals (other than zero) in Western Europe. They appeared through the Moors in Spain around 900.

Arabic numerals used in Arab countries in Africa (except Egypt) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Indo-Arabic numerals used in Arab Asian countries and Egypt ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩
Persian numerals ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹
Indian numerals (in Devanagari script) used in India
Numbers in Gujarati script
Numbers in Gurmukhi script
Chinese characters corresponding to numbers
Numbers in Bengali script
Numbers in Oriya letter
Numbers in Telugu writing
Numbers in Kannada writing
Numbers in Malayalam writing
Numbers in Tamil script
Numbers in Tibetan script
Numbers in Burmese script
Numbers in Thai writing
Numbers in Khmer writing
Numbers in Lao writing

The name “Arabic numerals” was formed historically, due to the fact that it was the Arabs who spread the decimal positional number system. The numbers used in Arab countries are very different in design from those used in European countries.

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Notes

Links

  • // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
  • - translator of national characters of Arabic and other numbers
  • J. J. O"Connor, E. F. Robertson. . MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland.