he western system would go back to Persia, when the perfected
Hindu one was near at hand.

At first sight there would seem to be some reason for believing that this
feature of the [.g]ob[=a]r system was of {67} Arabic origin, and that the
present zero of these people,[256] the dot, was derived from it. It was
entirely natural that the Semitic people generally should have adopted such
a scheme, since their diacritical marks would suggest it, not to speak of
the possible influence of the Greek accents in the Hellenic number system.
When we consider, however, that the dot is found for zero in the
Bakh[s.][=a]l[=i] manuscript,[257] and that it was used in subscript form
in the _Kit[=a]b al-Fihrist_[258] in the tenth century, and as late as the
sixteenth century,[259] although in this case probably under Arabic
influence, we are forced to believe that this form may also have been of
Hindu origin.

The fact seems to be that, as already stated,[260] the Arabs did not
immediately adopt the Hindu zero, because it resembled their 5; they used
the superscript dot as serving their purposes fairly well; they may,
indeed, have carried this to the west and have added it to the [.g]ob[=a]r
forms already there, just as they transmitted it to the Persians.
Furthermore, the Arab and Hebrew scholars of Northern Africa in the tenth
century knew these numerals as Indian forms, for a commentary on the
_S[=e]fer Ye[s.][=i]r[=a]h_ by Ab[=u] Sahl ibn Tamim (probably composed at
Kairw[=a]n, c. 950) speaks of "the Indian arithmetic known under the name
of _[.g]ob[=a]r_ or dust calculation."[261] All this suggests that the
Arabs may very {68} likely have known the [.g]ob[=a]r forms before the
numerals reached them again in 773.[262] The term "[.g]ob[=a]r numerals"
was also used without any reference to the peculiar use of dots.[263] In
this connection it is worthy of mention that the Algerians employed two
different forms of numerals in manuscripts even of the fourteenth
century,[264] and that the Moroccans of to-day employ the European forms
instead of the present Arabic.

The Indian use of subscript dots to indicate the tens, hundreds, thousands,
etc., is established by a passage in the _Kit[=a]b al-Fihrist_[265] (987
A.D.) in which the writer discusses the written language of the people of
India. Notwithstanding the importance of this reference for the early
history of the numerals, it has not been mentioned by previous writers on
this subject