91

160

arithmetic to the Arabians. It was not original
with him, but was commonly used in
Chorasmia, which is a country north of
Aria. There is no evidence at all that the
socalled Arabic system was in use even in Aria
much before the christian era; but
likely enough that it was so. The cipher
for naught would probably not then have been in
use. For the system was originally
only used for calculations made in ruled
columns. The figures were not
written as a substitute for the name of the number.
As long as the use of it was thus restricted
to computations, the absence of
the cipher would be a matter of no consequence