The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c11.60

c11.60

We therefore have this state of affairs: There was abundant intercourse between the East and West for some centuries before the Hindu numerals appear in any manuscripts in Christian Europe. The numerals must of necessity have been known to many traders in a country like Italy at least as early as the ninth century, and probably even earlier, but there was no reason for preserving them in treatises. Therefore when a man like Gerbert made them known to the scholarly circles, he was merely describing what had been familiar in a small way to many people in a different walk of life.