Islam Creator of the Modern Age Numerals

Islam Creator of the Modern Age Numerals

1991 12 December 7-11 Islam: Creator of the Modern Age Numerals (1512) The present system of numerals was first invented in India. That was in an age, however, when all that was traditionally established had come to be regarded as holy, while all that was invented was considered suspect. As such, this method of writing numerals could not become widely known, and continued for a long time to remain hidden in privately owned books. The new invention did not, therefore, gain currency, for people clung to the old method, considering it to be holy.

Having learnt that in the recently established Baghdad empire great appreciation was shown for new inventions, an Indian traveller went in 771 to Baghdad, which was then under the rule of the Abbasid caliph, AI-Mansur. The Indian Pandit introduced into Baghdad a treatise on astronomy, a siddhanta (the Arabs called it Sind hind) and a treatise on mathematics. By order f AI-Mansur these books were translated into Arabic by Muhammad ibn-Ibrahim al Fazari, between 796 and 806. The famous Arab mathematician, AI Khwarizmi (780-850) went through this translation into which the digit zero had been introduced. He found that with the nine Indian figures 1-9, and the zero sign, any number could be written. Calling these the ‘Indian’ numeral, Al Khwarizmi pronounced them the most satisfactory, and advocated their general adoption. Philip K Hitti writes:

AI Khwarizmi, writing in the first half of the ninth century was the exponent of the use of numerals, including the zero, in preference to letters. These numerals he called Hindi, indicating their Indian origin. His work on the Hindu method of calculation was translated into Latin by Adelard of Bath in the twelfth century and as De numero indico has survived, whereas the Arabic original has been lost. (History of the Arabs, p. 573)

In ancient times Roman numerals were in vogue in Europe. In this system, letters were used to express numbers. The use of letters to express numbers was adopted by the Greeks and some other ancient nations, and later by the Romans, who used the seven letters – M.D.C.L. X, V. 1 in various combinations. For instance the figure 88 would be written as LXXX VIII. This was a cumbersome method and made calculation extremely difficult. The Europeans, however, regarded the Roman numerals as holy – a gift from the gods. As a result, they failed to revise their thinking in this matter. Regarding non-holy numerals as holy was the reason they failed to make any progress in science and mathematics for several hundred years. It was the Islamic revolution which for the first time broke the aura of sanctity surrounding the numeral and ushered in the era of scientific progress in Europe.

Leonardo of Pisa was the most distinguished mathematician of the Middle Ages. He helped introduce into mathematics the Hindu-Arabic numerals and the number sequence that bears his name.

Little is known about Leonardo’s life beyond the few facts given in his mathematical writings. It is probable that he was born in Pisa, Italy. During Leonardo’s boyhood, his father, Guglielmo, a Pisan merchant, was appointed consul, or chief magistrate, over the community of Pisan merchants in the North African port of Bugia (now BeJara, Algeria). Leonardo soon joined him. With a view to future usefulness the father sent his son to study calculation with an Arab master. Leonardo later described his enjoyment in learning “the art of the nine Indian figures”. Leonardo also travelled to Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily, and Provence, where he studied different numerical systems and methods of calculation but never found one as satisfactory as the Hindu-Arabic numerals.

When Leonardo’s Liber abaci first appeared, Hindu-Arabic numerals were known to only a few European intellectuals through translation of the writings of the 9th century Arab mathematician and astronomer AlKhwarizmi. Leonardo began his explanation of the notation by observing: “The nine Indian figures are: 987654321. With these nine figures and with the sign O... any number may be written, as is demonstrated below.” The first seven chapters dealt with the notation, explaining the principle of place value, by which the position of a figure determines whether it is a unit, ten, 100, and so forth, and demonstrating the use of the numerals in arithmetical operations. The techniques were then applied to such practical commercial problems as profit margin, barter, money changing, conversion of weights, partnerships, and interest.

The Liber abaci, which was widely copied and imitated, drew the attention of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II, who was a patron of science. In the 1220s, Leonardo was invited to appear before the Emperor at Pisa and there he propounded a series of-problems, three of which Leonardo presented in his books. The first two belonged to a favourite Arabic type ...”

(EB - 10/817 - 18)

Wilfrid Blunt writes:

“And supposing the tide of Islam had not been stemmed ? Nothing so delayed the advance of science in the West as the clumsiness of the Roman numerals. Had the Arabic numerals, which had reached Baghdad from India towards the end of the eight century, been soon afterwards introduced into and adopted by western Europe as a whole, much of that scientific progress which we associate with the Renaissance in Italy might have been achieved several centuries earlier.

Wilfrid Blunt, The Times, (London)

April 2, 1976.

An Explanation

A book in English has been published by the Children’s Book Trust, New Delhi, consisting of 22 pages, written for children and general readers, entitled Story of Zero by Dilip M. Salwi.

The book shows that the concept of zero originated in India. Before this invention there existed no simple method of representing large figures. According to one method, certain words were fixed for particular figures like Sahasara for 1000, Aayota for 10,000, Laksha for 10,00,00 Koti for 10,00,000. The invention of zero revolutionized the science of mathematics, for now it became extremely easy to denote large figures.

Brahma Gupta (598-660), born in Multan, was the first notable person to fix the method of zero. However his method had some shortcomings. Later on Bhaskar (1114-1185) born in Bijapur, wrote a book in Sanskrit called Lailawati, in which he described the zero concept in more simple and understandable terms.

Mr. R.K. Murthi reviewing this book in The Times of India (30 January, 1989) writes: “It boosts our sense of national pride to note that the zero was conceived of in India.” (p. 6)

The writer of this book tells its Indian readers: “The Indian numbers first entered Spain, then Italy, France, England and Germany ... Indian numbers were accepted completely ... Their adoption turned out to be the turning point in the history of mathematics and science.

It is true that the concept of zero originated in India, but it is true that it reached the western world directly from India. It had rather reached the west through the Arabs. That is why the west calls these numerals Arabic rather than Indian .The Encyclopedia Britannica says:

Arabic numerals - the numbers, 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; they may have originated in India, but were introduced to the western world from Arabia. (1/469)

At another place the EB tells us that these numbers reached the western intellectuals in the 9th century through the writings of the Arab mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi. He explained these numbers in Arabic and then his Arabic books reached Europe through Latin translations.

Bertrand Russell writes:

About 830, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a translator of mathematical and astronomical books from the Sanskrit, published a book which was translated into Latin in the twelfth century, under the title Algoritmi de numero Indrum. It was from this book that the West first learnt of what we call ‘Arabic’ numerical, which ought to be called ‘Indian’. The same author wrote a book on algebra which’ was used in the west as a text-book until the sixteenth century.

(p.416)

In spite of the fact that the concept of zero originated in India, for several hundred years it received no recognition in India itself. It came to be generally known in India only when first the Arabs and then the west adopted it. The Encyclopedia Brita1lnica .says: “The invention, probably by the Hindus, of the digit zero, has been described as one of the greatest importance in the history of mathematics. Hindu literature gives evidence that the zero may have been known before the birth of Christ but no inscription has been found with such a symbol before the 9th century.”

(1/1115).

It is true then that the concept of zero had first formed in the mind of an Indian. But at that period in history, India was dominated wholly by polytheism and superstition. And consequently mysterious ideas had come to be associated with everything. Inventions were abhorred. That was why the concept of zero did not find general recognition in ancient India. It was reduced to a mere discovery by an individual, and thus failed to win general approval.

When Islam put an end to the concepts of polytheism and superstition, the concept of zero was welcomed as were so many other inventions.