Definition:Arabic Numerals

The Arabic numerals are:

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They are used in conjunction with the positional decimal system of numeric representation: see Basis Representation Theorem.

They were supposedly invented in the sphere of influence of the Arab culture in mediaeval times, but were in fact defined by Hindu mathematicians in approximately the 5th of 6th century C.E. Hence they are also referred to as "Hindu-Arabic numerals" or "Hindu numerals".

It was not until the work of Leonardo Fibonacci, whose Liber Abaci ("Book of Abacus" or "Book of Calculation") of 1202 was highly influential, that this system of denoting numbers became popular throughout the Western world.

The Arabic numerals are referred to nowadays in antithesis to the Roman numerals, a cumbersome and limited technique for numeric expression which is still unaccountably used in the present day for specialised purposes.