What is the source of the error regarding the origin of the number zero?
score:13
It was quite likely due to European scholars referring Arabic texts. These texts often drew inspiration from Eastern (esp. Indian and Chinese) works. However, the Arabic authors (for some reasons I am not aware of) did not properly attribute the works and therefore, European mathematicians may have thought of zero's origins as being Arabic.
But, of course, that is not to say that zero had 'Indian' origin. What is currently known is that, oldest text to explicitly refer to zero was Indian. But, its use may well be dated before that in ancient Greece, China and other civilizations.
Upvote:-2
The Liber Abaci written by Fibonacci was extremely influential in the devlopment of arithmetic and was the main source of the reference to "Arabic" numerals.
Zero is not from India. Zero is from ancient Babylonia. The Indians copied the Babylonian system, as did the Greeks. Zero is widely found in ancient Greek manuscripts written as an omicron with an overstroke. The Arabic symbol for zero, a dot, is completely different.
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