Open main menu

History of Islamic Mathematics (Numerical System)

147967156634005.png
The Arabic/Islamic numerical system shows a clear distinction away from the inspiration that were the Indian numerals.

History:— The modern numerical system of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and 9; were a unique set of numbers invented by Spanish Muslims.[1] and were based on the angles they made.[2] The Indian numerical system, it's inspiration, underwent several drastic changes before this new system was created over the course of a few centuries (969—c. 1300s). This was because the Indian numerical system was primitive and problematic to use; requiring the use of physical equipment, not pen and paper, which was a major disadvantage when it came to it's practicality; Hassan al-Uqlidisi for instance wrote, that the "[o]ficial scribes nevertheless avoid using [the Indian system] because it requires equipment [like a dust board] and they consider that a system that requires nothing but the members of the body [ie their own body parts] is more secure and more fitting to the dignity of a leader.".[3] As a result he invented new methods,[n. 1] as a way to solve for problems using only pen-and-paper-algorithms he himself developed,[4] and thus became the first person in history to thus do so.[n. 2] The Indian numerical system was mainly used by astrologer mystics, and was similarly like the Chinese system based on 10s.[5] By the 1300's, the Eastern Arabic numerals underwent another revolutionary change in the Western Arabic territories to what they look like today; the Ghubar/Western Arabic numericals.[6] Even according to the "National Institute of Sciences of India" (1962), "The[se] Ghubar numerals resemble modern European numerals much more closely than do the Hindu numerals".[7] Therefore it is incorrect to call modern numerals "Hindu numerals".[n. 3]

  • Eastern Arabic numerals, and Western Arabic numerals. Western Arabic are also called the Ghubar numericals.
  • The Indians actually did not invent the numerical system. The true numerical system was invented by the Muslims. The Indian numerical system was very primitive. All the numbers had changed by the time the Arabs transformed them into their own symbols. Indian numerals did however serve as it's main inspiration.
Chinese numerals also used numbers to the base 10, well before the Hindus had, and the first three numerals are virtually identical to the Indian numerical system, suggesting the Hindus copied from the Chinese. Numbers to the base 10 are not unique to the Indians, and never have been.
The Egyptian numerals also used numbers to the base 10 (1600 BC), well before the Hindus and Chinese. The Middle-east had therefore used numbers to the base 10 well before the Indians.
The Arabic/Islamic numerical system shows a clear distinction away from the inspiration that were the Indian numerals.

History:— The modern numerical system of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and 9; were a unique set of numbers invented by Spanish Muslims.[1] and were based on the angles they made.[2] The Indian numerical system, it's inspiration, underwent several drastic changes before this new system was created over the course of a few centuries (969—c. 1300s). This was because the Indian numerical system was primitive and problematic to use; requiring the use of physical equipment, not pen and paper, which was a major disadvantage when it came to it's practicality; Hassan al-Uqlidisi for instance wrote, that the "[o]ficial scribes nevertheless avoid using [the Indian system] because it requires equipment [like a dust board] and they consider that a system that requires nothing but the members of the body [ie their own body parts] is more secure and more fitting to the dignity of a leader.".[3] As a result he invented new methods,[n. 4] as a way to solve for problems using only pen-and-paper-algorithms he himself developed,[4] and thus became the first person in history to thus do so.[n. 5] The Indian numerical system was mainly used by astrologer mystics, and was similarly like the Chinese system based on 10s.[5] By the 1300's, the Eastern Arabic numerals underwent another revolutionary change in the Western Arabic territories to what they look like today; the Ghubar/Western Arabic numericals.[6] Even according to the "National Institute of Sciences of India" (1962), "The[se] Ghubar numerals resemble modern European numerals much more closely than do the Hindu numerals".[7] Therefore it is incorrect to call modern numerals "Hindu numerals".[n. 6]

  • Eastern Arabic numerals, and Western Arabic numerals. Western Arabic are also called the Ghubar numericals.
  • The Indians actually did not invent the numerical system. The true numerical system was invented by the Muslims. The Indian numerical system was very primitive. All the numbers had changed by the time the Arabs transformed them into their own symbols. Indian numerals did however serve as it's main inspiration.
Chinese numerals also used numbers to the base 10, well before the Hindus had, and the first three numerals are virtually identical to the Indian numerical system, suggesting the Hindus copied from the Chinese. Numbers to the base 10 are not unique to the Indians, and never have been.
The Egyptian numerals also used numbers to the base 10 (1600 BC), well before the Hindus and Chinese. The Middle-east had therefore used numbers to the base 10 well before the Indians.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. ^
    • Quote: "However, it was gradually replaced by algorithms performed with pen and paper. The earliest text to describe these new methods was al Uqlidisi's Arithmetic, written in Baghdad in 945 C.E.; in it the author argues for pen-and-paper techniques so that arithmetics could be distinguished from the dust board-wielding astrologers".
    1. Thomas F. Glick; Steven Livesey; Faith Wallis (27 January 2014). Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-135-45932-1.
  • ^ In 952, Abu'l Hasan Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Uqlidisi became the first person in the world to solve the Indian numerical system without having to use the dust board as the Indians had been doing for centuries (the Indians had never used pen-and-paper algorithms to solve their mathematical problems); this is proven by the following peer-reviewed sources on the history of the numerals;
    • Quote: "A step forward in the development of the decimal-place value system was due to Abu'l Hasan Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Uqlidisi (920-980)...who gave algorithms for use with pen and paper [in 1952], as opposed to those of al-Khwarizmi which were for dust board, and, more importantly introduced decimal fractions."
    1. Ethan D. Bloch (14 May 2011). The Real Numbers and Real Analysis. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-387-72177-4.
    They were new algorithms, unique to him, because the Indians used physical equipment to solve their problems. Historains explicitly state the Indians did not use pen-and-paper style arithmetic until the Arabs had solved for it;
    The Indian numerical system never used pen-and-paper style algorithmic arithmetic:
    • Historians note that "[f]rom their origins in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, the numerals spread throughout the Islamic world, though not without resistance or confusion. Many conservative scribes and bookkeepers resisted the new numerals in favour of older calculation on the fingers and with numerical words.
    • Historians say "[t]he Arabs borrowed not only the Indian numerals, but also a host of computational techniques and devices, including the dust-board, a flat tablet strewn with sand into which figures could be written for undertaking computations...Other techniques available included complex Greek-derived system of finger reckoning and the use of shells; accordingly, the use of written pen-and-paper-arithmetic was apparently not part of the initial practice of Indian derived numeration."
    • After the work of al-Uqlidisi, only then did pen-and-paper-arithmetic began to be widely used, the same time; well after his algorithms on pen-and-paper arithmetic been published and disseminated across the world; "[y]et once the [treatise] had been established by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Arabic mathematical texts began to advocate doing computations with paper and ink instead of the dust-board".
    1. Stephen Chrisomalis (2010). Numerical Notation: A Comparative History. Cambridge University Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-521-87818-0.
  • ^ This is by the very nature of the numerals. Despite this, the Muslim numerical system is still spuriously referred to as "Indian", when this is far from the case. Indian historians even call the numericals by the separate system themselves; by it's proper name of "Ghubar".
    1. Bulletin of the National Institute of Sciences of India. National Institute of Sciences of India. 1962. pp. 27–28.
  • ^
    • Quote: "However, it was gradually replaced by algorithms performed with pen and paper. The earliest text to describe these new methods was al Uqlidisi's Arithmetic, written in Baghdad in 945 C.E.; in it the author argues for pen-and-paper techniques so that arithmetics could be distinguished from the dust board-wielding astrologers".
    1. Thomas F. Glick; Steven Livesey; Faith Wallis (27 January 2014). Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-135-45932-1.
  • ^ In 952, Abu'l Hasan Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Uqlidisi became the first person in the world to solve the Indian numerical system without having to use the dust board as the Indians had been doing for centuries (the Indians had never used pen-and-paper algorithms to solve their mathematical problems); this is proven by the following peer-reviewed sources on the history of the numerals;
    • Quote: "A step forward in the development of the decimal-place value system was due to Abu'l Hasan Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Uqlidisi (920-980)...who gave algorithms for use with pen and paper [in 1952], as opposed to those of al-Khwarizmi which were for dust board, and, more importantly introduced decimal fractions."
    1. Ethan D. Bloch (14 May 2011). The Real Numbers and Real Analysis. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-387-72177-4.
    They were new algorithms, unique to him, because the Indians used physical equipment to solve their problems. Historains explicitly state the Indians did not use pen-and-paper style arithmetic until the Arabs had solved for it;
    The Indian numerical system never used pen-and-paper style algorithmic arithmetic:
    • Historians note that "[f]rom their origins in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, the numerals spread throughout the Islamic world, though not without resistance or confusion. Many conservative scribes and bookkeepers resisted the new numerals in favour of older calculation on the fingers and with numerical words.
    • Historians say "[t]he Arabs borrowed not only the Indian numerals, but also a host of computational techniques and devices, including the dust-board, a flat tablet strewn with sand into which figures could be written for undertaking computations...Other techniques available included complex Greek-derived system of finger reckoning and the use of shells; accordingly, the use of written pen-and-paper-arithmetic was apparently not part of the initial practice of Indian derived numeration."
    • After the work of al-Uqlidisi, only then did pen-and-paper-arithmetic began to be widely used, the same time; well after his algorithms on pen-and-paper arithmetic been published and disseminated across the world; "[y]et once the [treatise] had been established by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Arabic mathematical texts began to advocate doing computations with paper and ink instead of the dust-board".
    1. Stephen Chrisomalis (2010). Numerical Notation: A Comparative History. Cambridge University Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-521-87818-0.
  • ^ This is by the very nature of the numerals. Despite this, the Muslim numerical system is still spuriously referred to as "Indian", when this is far from the case. Indian historians even call the numericals by the separate system themselves; by it's proper name of "Ghubar".
    1. Bulletin of the National Institute of Sciences of India. National Institute of Sciences of India. 1962. pp. 27–28.

    • References

    1. ^ a b Solomon Gandz (November 1931). "The Origin of the Ghubār Numerals, or the Arabian Abacus and the Articuli". Isis (A Journal of the History of Science Society). Vol. 16. Issue No. 2: 393-424.
    2. ^ a b Elizabeth Woodcock; Rabah Saoud (2007). 1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World. Abdelrahman Aly Abounegm. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-9552426-1-8.
    3. ^ a b J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson (JOC/EFR January 2001). The Arabic numeral system. St. Andrews University. Retrieved May 3rd, 2016.
    4. ^ a b Thomas F. Glick; Steven Livesey; Faith Wallis (27 January 2014). Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-135-45932-1.
    5. ^ a b Ethan D. Bloch (14 May 2011). The Real Numbers and Real Analysis. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-387-72177-4.
    6. ^ a b Keith Devlin (1 November 2012). The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution. A&C Black. pp. 24. ISBN 978-1-4088-2248-7.
    7. ^ a b Bulletin of the National Institute of Sciences of India. National Institute of Sciences of India. 1962. pp. 27–28.

    External Links

    Retrieved from "http://materiaislamica.com/index.php?title=History_of_Islamic_Mathematics_(Numerical_System)&oldid=1157"
    Last edited on 19 December 2016, at 17:59