The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c12.126

c12.126

4. "Four" has changed greatly; and one of the first tests as to the age of a manuscript on arithmetic, and the place where it was written, is the examination of this numeral. Until the time of printing the most common form was [Figure:], although the Florentine manuscript of Leonard of Pisa's work has the form [Figure:];³ but the manuscripts show that the Florentine arithmeticians and astronomers rather early began to straighten the first of these forms up to forms like [Figure:]⁴ and [Figure:]⁴ or [Figure:], ⁵ more closely resembling our own. The first printed books generally used our present form⁶ with the closed top [Figure:], the open top used in writing (4) being purely modern. The following are other forms of the four, from various manuscripts:¹