• dukk
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    11 months ago

    IIRC Hindus invented this number system (with glyphs for 0-9), and then the Arabs starting using it. Eventually the west started using them and credited the Arabs.

    As for how they are written, everyone used the same shapes, and then they probably just ended up changing over time (“Hmm…how do I write that number again? Oh whatever I’ll just make it up”)

    Feel free to do your own research though.

    • Sylvartas@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      IIRC Hindus didn’t have a “proper” 0, and Arabs did, which I guess is the reason why they got the credit

      • dukk
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        11 months ago

        Zero was (in its modern form) invented in India. It’s pretty fundamental to the concept of Hindu-Arabic numerals too: it’s how we represent numbers such as 10, 100, and so on.

        • Sylvartas@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Yeah after some quick googling it looks like I’m wrong. I’m quite sure that’s what I was taught in school though, so blame my teacher !

          Basically I was taught that Hindus invented the 0 for base-10 numerals, but didn’t actually use it for maths (e.g 0*x = 0), whereas Arab mathematicians did.