The Early Diffusion of Hindu-Arabic Numerals in Europe
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Abstract
The Hindu-Arabic numerals are a crucial symbolic system in the Western civilization but Europe had borrowed them from other cultures. However, the numeral form had not yet finalized when it was introduced to Europe, but there were cultural transmissions during a long period that affected the written form of the numerals and Europeans’ understanding about their origin. In consequence, some factors in Europe should be considered, such as the expansion of the Moors in Spain, the Carolingian renaissance, the translation movement, some mathematical books with Arab origin which were later copied and translated into Latin, and the roles of the historical figures who lived within these contexts. The historical study of Hindu-Arabic numerals, then, will show us the interesting connections between Europe and the Arab world during the Medieval Ages.
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