History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c7.s15.8

v1.c7.s15.8

² One document cited by Woepcke is of special interest since it shows the use of the ordinary Arabic forms alongside the *ghobâr* at an early date (970 A.D.). The title of the work is “Interesting and Beautiful Problems on Numbers” copied by Ahmed ibn Mohammed ibn Abdaljalîl Abû Sa'id, al-Sijzî, (951-1024) from a work by a priest and physician, Nazîf ibn Yumn, al-Qass (died 990). Sprenger also calls attention to this fact (in *Zeit. d deutschen-morgenländischen Gesselschaft*, XLV, p. 367). Ali ibn Ahmed Al-Nasâvî (*c.* 1025) tells us that the symbolism of numbers was unsettled in his day (Smith and Karpinski, *l.c.*, p. 98).