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'''Arabic numerals''' consist of the [[number system]] most commonly used in the world:  0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.

'''Arabic numerals''' consist of the number system most commonly used in the world:  0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.

The term "Arabic numeral" is a [[misnomer]] that originated in 1847.  The more accurate term is "Hindu-Arabic numeral", as the origin of the numerals is [[Hinduism]] in [[India]] between 400 B.C. and A.D. 400.  The only connection with Arabs is that they communicated this system to [[Europe]] in the A.D. 900s, through Arabian [[mathematics|mathematicians]].  Most Arabs did not use these Indian numerals.

The term "Arabic numeral" is a misnomer that originated in 1847.  The more accurate term is "Hindu-Arabic numeral", as the origin of the numerals is [[Hinduism]] in [[India]] between 400 B.C. and A.D. 400.  The only connection with Arabs is that they communicated this system to [[Europe]] in the A.D. 900s, through Arabian [[mathematics|mathematicians]].  Most Arabs did not use these Indian numerals.

Indians first discovered the concept of zero (0).

Note that Hindu-Arabic numerals include zero (0):  Asian Indians were the first to discover and use this concept.

 

Westerners such as King John of England learned about Hindu-Arabic numerals as early as A.D. 1200, but there was resistance to converting from the Roman numeral system.  It was not until the early 1500s, around the same time as the [[Reformation]], that use of Hindu-Arabic numerals became accepted in Western Europe.

[[category:mathematics]]

[[category:mathematics]]