Fleeting Footsteps

Book excerpt: The HinduOCoArabic numeral system (1, 2, 3, ...) is one of mankind''sgreatest achievements and one of its most commonly usedinventions. How did it originate? Those who have written about thenumeral system have hypothesized that it originated in India; however, there is little evidence to support this claim. This book provides considerable evidence to show that theHinduOCoArabic numeral system, despite its commonly accepted name, has its origins in the Chinese rod numeral system. This system waswidely used in China from antiquity till the 16th century. It was usedby officials, astronomers, traders and others to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and other arithmetic operations, and also used by mathematicians to develop arithmetic andalgebra. Based on this system, numerous mathematical treatises werewritten."