Page:The Hindu-Arabic Numerals (1911).djvu/77

A recent theory set forth by Bubnov^[1] also deserves mention, chiefly because of the seriousness of purpose shown by this well-known writer. Bubnov holds that the forms first found in Europe are derived from ancient symbols used on the abacus, but that the zero is of Hindu origin. This theory does not seem tenable, however, in the light of the evidence already set forth.

Two questions are presented by Woepcke's theory: (1) What was the nature of these Spanish numerals, and how were they made known to Italy? (2) Did Boethius know them?

The Spanish forms of the numerals were called the ḥurūf al-ġobār, the ġobār or dust numerals, as distinguished from the ḥurūf al-jumal or alphabetic numerals. Probably the latter, under the influence of the Syrians or Jews,^[2] were also used by the Arabs. The significance of the term ġobār is doubtless that these numerals were written on the dust abacus, this plan being distinct from the counter method of representing numbers. It is also worthy of note that Al-Bīrūnī states that the Hindus often performed numerical computations in the sand. The term is found as early as c. 950, in the verses of an anonymous writer of Kairwan, in Tunis, in which the author speaks of one of his works on ġobār calculation;^[3] and, much later, the Arab writer Abū Bekr Moḥammed ibn 'Abdallāh, surnamed al-Ḥaṣṣar