Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c5.s6.17

c5.s6.17

(d) *Greeks* : The Greeks initially were deeply interested in numbers which were connected with geometric forms.¹ They had two other systems of notation—the Attice system and the Alphabetic system. The former, made of upright strokes and initials of several number names, was no better than the systems prevalent among the Egyptians and other contemporary civilisations. This system was replaced at about third century B.C. by the alphabetic system of numerals which were commonly known among the Hebrews, the Syrians, the Arabs, the Persians and other Semitic people. The alphabetic system had twenty-four letters in their common Ionic alphabet, to which they added three Phoenician alphabets to make it twenty-seven. These are divided into three groups, first nine alphabets denoting nine units, second nine alphabets denoting nine multiples of ten and the third nine alphabets denoting nine multiples of hundred. They wrote from left to right. In writing a compound number, the element of the higher denominations was put first. For examble, 43,678 was represented by the symbols of four myriad ( one myriad=ten thousands ), three thousand, six hundred, seventy, and eight maintaining an additive principle.