Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c5.s7.57

c5.s7.57

There is no doubt that the Arabs derived their knowledge of decimal place-value from India. Al-Bīrūnī (1030 A. D.), who stayed in India quite a number of years and is very much well known for his encyclopaedical knowledge, made the following observations in his *India* (Eng. tr. Sachau, *1*, p. 174), “the numerical signs which we use are derived from the finest of the Hindu signs.” The earliest use of zero in Arabia by a circular symbol was found in a 10th century A. D. manuscript.² In other Mss. during the same period, the forms such as ᴑ, ᵂ and ⎴ were used for zero. The dot symbol (•), similar to that of the Indians, was also used by Bīrūnī in his table. The modern Arabic symbol 5 is represented by a symbol that looks somewhat like the modern zero and the zero is denoted by a dot. The Indian name *śunya* was taken over by the Arabs as *aṣ-ṣifr* or *ṣifr*. This was subsequently changed to zephirum (1202 A. D. - Fibonacci), *tziphra* (1340 A. D. - Planudes) and *zenero*, *zepiro* (c. 16th century A. D. Italy).³