810 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. {December, 1911. 
nine signs, called the signs of Gobar, are those which are em- 
ployed very frequently in our Spanish province and in the 
country of Maghreb and Africa. Their origin is said to be as 
follows: A man of the nation of Indians took some fine powder 
and spread it on a table made of wood or some other substance 
or on any plane surface whatever and marked in it whatever 
he wanted to in the operations of multiplication or division or 
other operations. Then when he had finished the problem 
he put it into a cup-board until he wanted it again.’’ 
dosein b. Muh. el-Mahalli gives practically the same 
account but leaves out the cup-board business, while Ahmed b. 
Abi Bekr gives the so-termed ‘ Indian’ notations in a book 
entitled ‘‘ The ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphic characters 
explained ; with an account of the Egyptian Priests, their 
classes, initiation, and sacrifices.’ This is hardly the sort of 
book in which we should expect to find an authoritative state- 
ment on Indian matters! The notations given are not Hindu 
at all but Arabic in form. 
a For other references to ‘ Indian ’ numbers see the Appen- 
ix. 
¥I. 
_ it has been shown how the learned Woepcke fell into ; 
srlevous error in rejecting the term ‘ geometrical’ as not being 
aa apa to the problems to which the term indasi had been 
piled, i 
preting the same writer’s numerical symbols. This can hardly 
@ mere coincidence and suggests an historical connection 
between the two classes of mistakes. ' : 
e hesitation of comparatively-speaking modern writers 
like el-Qalasadi to use the term ‘ geometrical’ when referring 
to an arithmetical notation is easily understood ; but 3 
may be pointed out that the language of numbers 1s often 
essentially geometrical. The Greeks termed odd numbers 
gnomons a; 
have since come across the following note by Woepeke.—* 
wool thris! mention rule of 
bs te on Sugmentation and diminution,’ that is to say on the ru! 
a alse eee by Send ibn ‘Ali and by Sinan Ibn rays otic.” 
same who had written also..... . treatises on Indian arithmev™ 
Journal Asiatique, p. 514, . : 
