The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c6.87

Language: English

c6.87

With respect to these numerals it should first be noted that no zero appears in the table, and as a matter of fact none existed in any of the cases cited. It was therefore impossible to have any place value, and the numbers like twenty, thirty, and other multiples of ten, one hundred, and so on, required separate symbols except where they were written out in words. The ancient Hindus had no less than twenty of these symbols,² a number that was afterward greatly increased. The following are examples of their method of indicating certain numbers between one hundred and one thousand:

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