Math An Unruled Origin Decimal notation did not appear overnight. In the past four centuries, it was invented and refined by many people along with rules for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Decimal notation made the common knowledge of arithmetic possible.
Decimal notation varies from country to country.
In many countries which employ the metric system, a decimal comma is employed instead of a decimal point. From then on, algebraic ideas developed, but the rules of procedure were not clear. Yet the algebraic reasoning including slope calculation suggested new results and calculations in mathematics and the sciences. The imprecision in algebraic thought was a source of concern. Not all was certain.