THE DECIMAL SYSTEM OF NUMBERS 497 



In modern notation, 8,443,682,155, 8 billion, 443 million, 682 thou- 

 sand, 155. 

 In Hindu, 8 padmas, 4 vyarbondas, 4 kotis, 3 prayoutas, 6 lakchas, 



8 ayoutas, 2 sahasra, 1 gata 5 dagan 5. 

 In Arabic and in later German, eight thousand thousand thousand and 

 four hundred thousand thousand and forty-three thousand thousand 

 and six hundred thousand and eighty-two thousand and one hun- 

 dred fifty-five. 

 In Greek, eighty-four myriads of myriads and four thousand three 

 hundred sixty-eight myriads and two thousand one hundred fifty- 

 five. 



It is well established that in different parts of India the names for 

 some of the higher powers took different forms, even the order was 

 interchanged. However, as the significance of the name was further 

 given by the order in reading, the variations did not lead to error. 

 Indeed, the variation itself may have necessitated the introduction of a 

 word to signify a vacant place or a lacking unit, with the ultimate intro- 

 duction of a zero symbol for the word. The use of a special word to 

 indicate absence of a unit is not hypothesis, but is found in verses in the 

 ancient Indian book on astronomy, the Sourya-Siddhanta, and in 

 numerous other ancient Hindu writings. 



Brockhaus has well said that if there was any invention for which 

 the Hindus by all their philosophy and religion were well fitted it was 

 the invention of a symbol for zero. This making of nothingness the 

 crux of a tremendous achievement was a step in complete harmony 

 with the genius of the Hindu. The exact date of the birth of the zero 

 symbol is not known, doubtless never will be known. The burden of 

 proof points to a use of this symbol towards the beginning of the fifth 

 century of our era. Wide-spread use in India did not occur until to- 

 wards the ninth century. With nations as with individuals, the com- 

 plete significance of great idea is not achieved in a moment; even as this 

 idea itself in its unfolding required the labor of master minds of many 

 centuries, so the appreciation and application of this advance required 

 centuries for its completion. 



The intellectual awakening of the Arabs beginning about the middle 

 of the eighth century, manifested itself in the appearance of numerous 

 translations of Greek, Syrian and Hindu works. Barbarians as they 

 undoubtedly were at the period of their first conquests, the Arabs dis- 

 tinguished themselves by their desire for the further conquests of the 

 science and literature of the subjugated peoples. The Persian invasion 

 brought them close to the civilization of the Hindus and here the 

 scholars went further than the flag. Hindu astronomy and astrology 

 accompanied by the Hindu arithmetic were given to the scientific public 

 in translations made at the command of one of the first great Mahome- 



