The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c5.44

c5.44

The oldest work, in any sense complete, on the history of Arabic literature and history is the *Kitāb al-Fihrist*, written in the year 987 A.D., by Ibn Abī Ya'qūb al-Nadīm. It is of fundamental importance for the history of Arabic culture. Of the ten chief divisions of the work, the seventh demands attention in this discussion for the reason that its second subdivision treats of mathematicians and astronomers.⁶