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Hindu-Arabic numerals: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Arabic numeral

Did You Know?

  • Florences city council banned using zero in 1298, afraid of the ease of altering Hindu-Arabic numerals (as opposed to Roman numerals).
  • The modern symbol for zero may have begun as a dot.
  • The Italian mathematician Fibonacci popularized the use of Hindu-Arabic numerals in Europe in the early 13th century.

Photos

Hindu-Arabic numerals
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Key People

Marble statue of Fibonacci in a hooded robe with one hand extended, set against a brick wall and mural in Camposanto cemetery, Pisa, Italy.
Fibonacci
Italian mathematician
Soviet postage stamp featuring a portrait of Al-Khwarizmi in a turban, with Russian text and decorative border, issued to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of his birth.
al-Khwārizmī
Muslim mathematician