The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c9.144

c9.144

3. If he had known them, and had mentioned them in any of his works, his contemporaries, disciples, and successors would have known and mentioned them. But neither Capella (c. 475)³ nor any of the numerous medieval writers who knew the works of Boethius makes any reference to the system.⁴ 4. The passage in question has all the appearance of an interpolation by some scribe. Boethius is speaking of angles, in his work on geometry, when the text suddenly changes to a discussion of classes of numbers.¹ This is followed by a chapter in explanation of the abacus,² in which are described those numeral forms which are called *apices* or *caracteres*.³ The forms⁴ of these characters vary in different manuscripts, but in general are about as shown on page 88. They are commonly written with the 9 at the left, decreasing to the unit at the right, numerous writers stating that this was because they were derived from Semitic sources in which the direction of writing is the opposite of our own. This practice continued until the sixteenth century.⁵ The writer then leaves the subject entirely, using the Roman numerals