Well, perhaps ~500CE was when it was codified, especially with an explicit zero, but place arithmetic was used in markets well before the Christian era. The word abacus is from the Greek work abax, a dust covered board used for arithmetic. See http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/history.html
I once did my taxes on a soroban, a Japanese abacus. Herb Foster ________________________________ From: Bill Gross <[email protected]> To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, August 4, 2010 6:49:57 AM Subject: [Hornlist] NHR Short Monograph on Number System A few folks on the list, maybe even Cabbage, might find this paper on the "Arabic" number system interesting. http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/discovery.pdf _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
