Islam Creator of the Modern Age
3. Muslim Contribution to Science
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Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Sicily, etc., where he
studied different numerical systems and methods of
calculation but never found one as satisfactory as
the Arabic numerals.
When Leonardo’s
Liber abaci
first appeared, Arabic
numerals were known to only a few European
intellectuals through translation of the writings of
the ninth century Arab mathematician and
astronomer Al-Khwarizmi. Leonardo began his
explanation of the notation by observing: “The nine
Arabic figures are; 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. With these nine
figures and with the sign 0… 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, hundred
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
