I am calling for Obamas resignation.
Most of the positional base 10 numeral systems in the world have originated from India, where the concept of positional numerology was first developed. The Indian numeral system is commonly referred to in the West as the Hindu-Arabic numeral system or even Arabic numerals, since it reached Europe through the Arabs.
A decimal place system has been traced back to ca. 500 in India. Before that epoch, the Brahmi numeral system was in use; that system did not encompass the concept of the place-value of numbers. Instead, Brahmi numerals included additional symbols for the tens, as well as separate symbols for hundred and thousand.
The Indian place-system numerals spread to neighboring Persia, where they were picked up by the conquering Arabs. In 662, a Nestorian bishop living in what is now called Iraq said:
I will omit all discussion of the science of the Indians ... of their subtle discoveries in astronomy - discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians - and of their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description. I wish only to say that this computation is done by means of nine signs. If those who believe that because they speak Greek they have arrived at the limits of science would read the Indian texts they would be convinced even if a little late in the day that there are others who know something of value.
The addition of zero as a tenth positional digit is documented from the 7th century by Brahmagupta, though the earlier Bakhshali Manuscript, written sometime before the 5th century, also included zero. But it is in Khmer numerals of modern Cambodia is where the first extant material evidence of zero as a numerical figure, dating its use back to the seventh century, is found.[4]
As it was from the Arabs that the Europeans learned this system, the Europeans called them Arabic numerals; ironically, to this day the Arabs refer to their numerals as Indian numerals. In academic circles they are called the Hindu-Arabic or Indo-Arabic numerals.
When they stop wanting to kill me when they see my yarmulke, we can have a discussion.
Before you get banned, :-) thanks for the post. Husband and I were discussing the Crusades tonight at dinner. Amazed at how neither of us knew much about the history during this time. Going to start on some heavy reading.
Dear Islam,
What have you done for the world lately, but to harm it. Time to get over what was, and focus on what is..
Sincerely,
H.D.
re: the Crusades.
Islamic jihad conquered the Byzantine Empire. The Crusades were a minor counterattack.
And alas, now we Americans have received ZerO from Islam.
Look JD, the history of accomplishments in the Islamic world 1000 years ago is interesting, but it's completely irrelevant to the fact that hundreds of millions of modern Muslims aim to destroy civilization.
And whatever miraculous technological acumen the middle east could boast 2,000 years ago, it hasn't advanced much over that time. It remains mired in a mentality that western civilization overcame at least 500 years ago.
THAT is the "gift" islam has wrought.
The first book published on movable type (a western invention, by the way) was a Bible. Music as we know it today arose from Gregorian chants that praised God. Theater was an offshoot of Passion Plays that depicted various scenes from biblical history. And the triumph of individual dignity over the oppression of tyrants arose because every human is possessed of a spark of the Divine.
THOSE are the gifts of Judeo-Christianity.
Equivalency denied.
The Muslims take credit for a lot of things that they discovered after they conquered a people. In truth, they’re idiots.
Islam does not Equal Arab!
In the past - ARABS have gifted Western Civilization with priceless knowledge.
What good has islam done for the world lately?
Oh, and the more I learn about Thomas Jefferson the less I like him.
......We did not have a "ZERO" in our number system. Arabs gave us "0" - along with all our other arabic numerals.....
=Snip=
Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent[1] from 1200 BCE [2] until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 AD to 1200 AD), important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II. The decimal number system in use today[3] and the binary number system[4] were first recorded in Indian mathematics.[5] Indian mathematicians made early contributions to the study of the concept of zero as a number,[6] negative numbers,[7] arithmetic, and algebra.[8] In addition, trigonometry[9] was further advanced in India, and, in particular, the modern definitions of sine and cosine were developed there.[10] These mathematical concepts were transmitted to the Middle East, China, and Europe[8] and led to further developments that now form the foundations of many areas of mathematics.
=Snip=
Click the link to learn more.
There are no Arabic numerals. It's a misnomer.
Even the Arabs call them The Hindu Numerals
You need to check your "facts".
Incomplete and selective history is self-serving history, often revised by islam, which claims everything under the sun was “discovered” or invented by them.
To POST self-serving revisionist history is...self serving. My question is why?
3@me.
Ha.
Actually, "crusade" was the reply to "jihad."
In your rush to credit all things good to islam you completely omitted Constantinople and the eastern Roman empire. That city retained much of Rome (art, science, medicine , architecture, etc.) that was lost in the west and it served as a jumping-off point for many of the Crusades. It must have been a major eye-opener for the Franks.
My contention is that islam picked the bones of the civilizations it overran and didn't originate much.
ping for later comments,
There were probably many "civilizations" that were lost along with the knowledge they had amassed. Either the evidence is under ground, or, more likely, under water.
Regardless, from what I can tell, this vanity doesn't really touch on the harm caused by the spread of Islam. Will that be a subject for a future post?
Islam gave us nothing but misery.
Greek scholars kept as muslim slaves gave us the the mathematics and science that the muslims claim as theirs.
PS. People forget that the Eastern Roman Empire survive until 1453. It just didn't share with the descendants of those who sacked Rome.
“And the Great Mosque nearby were 1000 times greater than anything ever built to that time in all of Christendom.”
An update to that, would it surprise you that there was a massive Christian church at the time, have you ever heard of “Hagia Sophia?” or the Church of the Holy Wisdom or Holy Spirit of God? That was the BIG church at the time during the dark ages.