Arabic << AR uh bihk, >> numerals, also called Hindu-Arabic numerals, are the most common symbols used to represent numbers. Every counting number can be expressed in Arabic numerals by using 10 basic symbols, alone or in combination. The basic symbols, called digits, are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The position of a digit in an Arabic numeral determines its value—that is, what number each digit represents in terms of ones, tens, hundreds, and so on. For example, the Arabic numeral 237 means 2 hundreds, 3 tens, and 7 ones. The Arabic numeral 7,003 means 7 thousands, no hundreds, no tens, and 3 ones. The digit 0 (zero) fills empty positions so that the other digits have their proper values. See Decimal system .
Scholars do not know how Arabic numerals originated. But the symbols for all the digits except zero probably originated with the Hindus in India, possibly as early as the 200’s B.C. The Hindus developed the zero sometime after A.D. 600. The word zero probably comes from the Arabic form of the Sanskrit word sunya, which means empty (see Zero ). Traders and merchants helped spread the Arabic numeral system across the Mediterranean region, especially into Spain. Beginning in the 800’s, merchants and scholars introduced it throughout the rest of Europe. The system came into general use in Europe when the digit symbols were standardized. This was brought about by the invention of the printing press in the mid-1400’s.
