← Explore on the interactive map
Arabic Numeral System
The Arabic numeral system refers to the decimal positional notation formed and promoted in the Islamic Middle East around the 8th century, based on I…
Timeline
- c. 701–730Persian Gulf–Iraq trade route · Middle EastThrough Persian and Indian Ocean trade networks, Indian decimal numeral symbols entered the Islamic world and began to be tried in commercial bookkeeping and astronomical calculation.
- c. 730–770Basra · IraqMathematicians in the scholarly cities of Iraq combined Indian numerals with the Arabic arithmetic tradition, establishing the operational rules of positional notation and the zero symbol.
- c. 770–800Baghdad · IraqAfter the establishment of the Abbasid dynasty, the new numeration method was promoted in court finance, astronomical computation, and commercial account books, and extended toward North Africa and al-Andalus.
Sources
- The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer — Georges Ifrah (2000)