The Tradition of Large Integers in Historical Arithmetical Textbooks

“This tradition apparently began with the two first texts that significantly contributed to the spread of the decimal system in Europe—the Latin translations of al- Khwarizmi’s treatise on decimal arithmetic, and Leonardo’s Liber Abaci, containing examples of reading a 16-digit and a 15-digit number respectively. Throughout the centuries, the order of magnitude of these introductory numbers increased, in general up to some 30 digits, but in some cases to over 60 digits.”

Bruckler, Franka Miriam and Stilinovic, Vladimir (2024) “The Tradition of Large Integers in Historical Arithmetical Textbooks,” The Mathematics Enthusiast: Vol. 21 : No. 1, Article 5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54870/1551-3440.1617

#DOI #Research #History #Maths #Mathematics #Math #Textbooks #Book #Books #Academia #Academic #Academics