6i2 • THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Five has changed a great deal, though it can usually be recognized.* 



^VSl .*.?•$■ ty-ty>' 5 



Six has changed but little.* 



Up to the fifteenth century seven was usually recumbent in posture.* 



Eight has preserved its shape.* 

 So has nine for the most part.* 



•?•■?, f>; £,?.?- 9' ?.'.* 



The symbol for nothing has varied greatly, and in an arbitrary 

 manner.* 



The name of this last symbol is interesting. The Hindus called it 

 sunya, void. In Arabic this became sifr or as-sifr. In 1202 Leonardo 

 Fibonacci translated it zepliirum; in 1330 Maximus Planudes called it 

 t£i'<£/3o., tzipJtra. During the fourteenth century Italian writers short- 

 ened it to zeuero and ceuro, which became zero, now in general use. 

 Meanwhile it had passed more nearly in Arabic form into French as 

 chiffre, and into English as cipher, taking on new significations. Per- 

 haps the schoolboy of to-day, who speaks of getting "zip" for an 

 answer, is himself reverting to the Arabic. 



After the Renaissance the Hindu numerals gradually supplanted 

 other forms, and by the seventeenth century the process was nearly 

 complete. From Europe in turn they have spread over the world, 

 until the} r are now in general use wherever civilized man is living, 



* From Smith and Karpinski, ' ' The Hindu-Arabic Numerals. ' ' 



