From: sadhal@alhena.usc.edu (Sati Sadhal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Arabic(??) Numerals: The Origin (Hindu Numerals)
Date: 20 Nov 1992 11:32:35 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: alhena.usc.edu
Keywords: Arabic Numbers, Hindu Numbers

In article <1992Nov20.021301.12145@nuscc.nus.sg> suresh@papaya.iss.nus.sg (Suresh Thennarangam - Research Scholar) writes:
>I have followed with some interest a recent discussion of the origin of the
>Arabic numerals in this news-group(soc.culture.arabic).
>
>The decimal number system, widely attributed in the West to be an invention
>of the Arabs actually originated in India. Ancient Indian mathematicians
>invented the concept of "zero" and the decimal number system which was 
>probably carried to Arabia by Arab traders who have had trade links with 
>India(Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka incl.) since a very long time ago.
>
>Indian historians sincerely believe this and that the Arabic number system
>is so called simply because the West learned of this number system from the
>Arabs. 

This is well accepted by Western historians of mathematics, but
certainly not well-publicized. I have the following documentation
to substatiate this:

1. `Childcraft, The How and Why Library' vol 13 (Mathemagic)
	World Book, Inc., page 76
	"... The numerals we use were invented by Hindus in
	India, about two thousand years ago. We don't know 
	why the numerals are shaped the way they are, but we
	can make a good guess about 1, 2 and 3. ......

	(page 77) ....The Hindu numerals were adopted by the Arabs. 
	When the Arabs conquered Spain, about 1,300 years
	ago, they brought these numerals with them. Because
	the Arabs brought them, they became known as Arabic
	numerals.....

	(page 79)..... We got our number system from the
	Arabs, who got it from the Hindus of India."

2.	`The World Book Encyclopedia' Volume 14
	World Book, Inc.
	Page 617:
	"The Hindu-Arabic numeral system:
	Hindu mathematicians of the 300's and the 200's BC
	used a system based on 10. .....
	
	..... During the 700's, the Arabs learned Hindu
	arithmetic from scientific writings of the Hindus
	and the Greeks. Then, in the 800's, a Persian
	mathematician wrote a book that was translated into
	Latin about 300 years later. This translation
	brought the Hindi-Arabic numerals to Europe....

	.... Mathematicians regard the Hindu-Arabic system as 
	the world's greatest inventions. Its greatness lies
	in the principle of place value and in the use of zero.
	........"

  
	3. `The History of Mathematics: An Introduction'
	    by David M. Burton
	    Page 269:
		"Although we have referred to our present 
		system of numerals as Hindu-Arabic, its
		origins are obscure and much-disputed. The
		most widely accepted theory is that it
		originated in India about the third century
		(this should probably be 3rd Cent., BC -Sadhal),
		was carried to Baghdad in the eighth century,
		and transmitted to Western Europe by way of
		Moorish Spain.
		
		(page 270).......  How and why these numerals
		first reached the Arabs is a question that has
		never been satisfactorily settled. During
		the early Arab expansion, public decrees were
		written in Greek as well as Arabic, since Greek
		was widely understood in the Near East. The ruling
		Caliph, to promote his own language, passed a law
		in 706 that forbade the use of Greek in favor of
		Arabic, but nonetheless the Greek alphabetic 
		system could be used for writing out numbers. 
		This indicates that the Hindu symbol had not yet
		penetrated as far as Damascus, the seat of the
		Caliphs. Around 800, the system was definitely
		known to the Arabs. The mathematician, Khowarizmi
		prepared a small book explaining the use of Hindu
		numerals, including the zero as a place holder. 
		When this was translated into Latin by Adelard of 
		Bath in the 1100s, the NUMERALS WERE INCORRECTLY
		ASSUMED TO BE OF ARABIC ORIGIN"

4. `In Introduction to the History of Mathematics' - 4th Edn.
	by Howard Eves, (Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston)

	Page 19:
	"1-9 The Hindu-Arabic Numeral System
 	The Hindu-Arabic numeral system is named after the
	Hindus, who may have invented it, and after the Arabs,
	who transmitted it to Western Europe. The earliest
	preserved examples of our present number symbols are
	found on some stone columns erected in India about
	250 BC by King Asoka. Other early examples in India,
	if correctly interpreted, are found among records
	cut about 100 BC on the walls of a cave near Poona
	and some inscriptions of about 200 AD carved in the 
	caves at Nasik."

--------------------------------
The above are verbatim quotes from the references.
The issue, as far as I can see, is completely settled.
The problem is to tell the education system about it.


>
>/Suresh
				-------- Satwindar Singh Sadhal
					 sadhal@alhena.usc.edu


P.S.: If anybody wishes of have the actual pages of
	my documentation, please send me your address. 
	There is other less interesting material that is
	not included in my post.

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic