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Concept
Arabic numerals
Summary
Arabic numerals are the ten symbols most commonly used to write numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The term often implies a decimal number, in particular when contrasted with Roman numerals, however the symbols are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers such as computer symbols, trademarks, or license plates.
They are also called Western Arabic numerals, Ghubār numerals, Hindu-Arabic numerals, Western digits, Latin digits, or European digits. The Oxford English Dictionary differentiates them with the fully capitalized Arabic Numerals to refer to the Eastern digits. The term numbers or numerals or digits often implies only these symbols, however this can only be inferred from context.
Europeans learned of Arabic numerals about the 10th century, though their spread was a gradual process. Two centuries later, in the Algerian city of Béjaïa, the Italian scholar Fibonacci first encountered the numerals; his work was crucial in making them known throughout Europe. European trade, books, and colonialism helped popularize the adoption of Arabic numerals around the world. The numerals have found worldwide use significantly beyond the contemporary spread of the Latin alphabet, and have become common in the writing systems where other numeral systems existed previously, such as Chinese and Japanese numerals.
Positional decimal notation including a zero symbol was developed in India, using quite different symbols. As the system spread, the set of symbols used in different regions diverged.
The immediate ancestors of the digits now commonly called "Arabic numerals" were introduced to Europe in the 10th century by Arabic speakers of Spain and North Africa, who were then using the digits from Libya to Morocco. In the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabs were using the Eastern Arabic numerals or "Mashriki" numerals: ٠, ١, ٢, ٣, ٤, ٥, ٦, ٧, ٨, ٩.
Al-Nasawi wrote in the early 11th century that mathematicians had not agreed on the form of the numerals, but most of them had agreed to train themselves with the forms now known as Eastern Arabic numerals.
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