Like al-Khwarizmi’s work revolutionized mathematics in the Golden Age of Islam, or like the Indian’s understanding of mathematics had revolutionized their culture before, Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci (the Book of Calculations) revolutionized Europe, especially regarding mathematics, science, banking, and trade. Why is the Modern Numeral System Important? So Leonardo, Son of Bonacci, the traveler, from the Republic of Pisa or just Fibonacci. He also sometimes called himself Leonardo Bigollo, where Bigollo means traveller. He was also called Leonardo Pisano or Leonardo of Pisa (Pisa, an Italian Republic in which he lived). Thus today we call it the Indian-Arabic system after the two cultures who developed the system before us.įibonacci is a nickname: According to lore, Fibonacci is a shortening of the Latin “filius Bonacci” (or, son of Bonacci like John-son is son of John, Fi-Bonacci is son of Bonacci his father’s name was Guglielmo Bonaccio). It was then brought to the middle-east by Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi.

Why is it Called the Indian-Arabic Numeral System?įibonacci calls the Indian-Arabic numeral system “the method of the Indians” because the system originated in India. The Origin of the Modern Numeral System – The Place-Value Numeral SystemĪlthough it had been written about earlier by Monks and Scholars in the West, the Indian-Arabic numeral system (one of many ways to describe the system) wasn’t commonly used in the west before Fibonacci.įibonacci called this system the “the Modus Indorum” or “method of the Indians” (the Brahmi and Hindu) and introduced it in his masterwork Liber Abaci (1202). Unlike the Roman numeral system, Fibonacci’s place-value system uses a decimal place and zero (as a placeholder), and thus allows for more complex mathematics. Leonardo Fibonacci introduced the modern decimal numeral system ( the Hindu–Arabic numeral system) to Europe in 1202. Leonardo Fibonacci and The Birth of the Modern Numeral System in the West

Fibonacci sequence in nature myth