Modern Numbers

As I’m sure you have always wanted to know, the modern numeral digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) are known as Hindu numerals or “Hindu-Arabic numerals”. They are commonly called “Arabic numerals” in Europe and the Americas because they were introduced to Europe in the 10th century by Arabs from North Africa, who was using them for trade purposes. Europeans of the time did not know that the numerals originated in ancient India, so they called them “Arabic numerals”. Arabs, on the other hand, call the same number system “Hindu numerals”, referring to their true origin in India.

Bones as well as other artifacts have been found that reveal marks cut into them which scholars think are “tally marks”, which were most likely the first form of keeping track of numbers.  These tally marks were probably used for counting elapsed time, such as days and cycles of the moon or perhaps keeping records of quantities, such as the number of animals within the herd in the valley beyond intended for the next hunt. Such systems of numbering were used by the earliest form of man kind. On the other hand, the earliest known base 10 system similar to the Hindu-Arabic system used today dates to 3100 BC in Egypt.  So you can see, “numbers” are not considered to be a “new” concept.

The Hindu-Arabic system was intended to replace the “cumbersome” Roman Numerical System and did, sometime during the Middle Ages (5^th to 15^th century AD); most historians believe this event occurred during the 10^th century by the way.  

You still see the Roman version used on occasion, especially when referencing Super bowl proceedings or perhaps movie sequels for example, this is probably done to draw attention to the events.  Regardless, The Roman system was first use from the 4th century BC (that’s 3000+ BC) forward, but the symbols we occasionally use today were modified sometime during the 1st century or 1000+ AD.

One quick look at the chart below will tell you why the Europeans were more than ready to give up the Roman system:

Roman	Hindu-Arabic
I	1
V	5
X	10
L	50
C	100
D	500
M	1,000
i	1,000
v	5,000
x	10,000
l	50,000
c	100,000
d	500,000
m	1,000,000

Beyond these symboles, the Roman system gets even more complicated.


Sources …                                                               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_numerals                                               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number                                                     http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/roman/index.htm                              http://ostermiller.org/calc/roman.html