History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c7.s8.45

v1.c7.s8.45

According to Heath,² the Greek alphabetic notation was invented in the 7th century B.C., but it came into general use only in the second century A.D. Thus it took about eight hundred years to get popular. In Arabia the new notation was introduced in the 8th century A.D., but it came into common use about five or six hundred years later. The same was the case in Europe. The Arabs got the complete decimal arithmetic, including the method of performing the various operations, at a period when intellectual activity in Arabia was at its greatest height, but they could not make the decimal system common before about five or six hundred years had elapsed.³ In legal documents and in recording historical dates, the Arabs even now use their old alphabetic notation.