The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c12.160

c12.160

During the transition period from the Roman to the Arabic numerals, various anomalous forms found place. For example, we have in the fourteenth century ca for 104;² 1000.300.80 et 4 for 1384;³ and in a manuscript of the fifteenth century 12901 for 1291.⁴ In the same century m.cccc. 8II appears for 1482,⁵ while M°CCCC°50 (1450) and MCCCCXL6 (1446) are used by Theodoricus Ruffi about the same time.⁶ To the next century belongs the form 1vojj for 1502. Even in Sfortunati's *Nuovo lume*⁷ the use of ordinals is quite confused, the propositions on a single page being numbered "tertia," "4," and "V."