Editing Arabic numerals (section)

==== Italy ====
[[Image:Liber abbaci magliab f124r.jpg|thumb|A page of the ''Liber Abaci''. The list on the right shows the [[Fibonacci sequence]]: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377. The 2, 8, and 9 resemble Arabic numerals more than [[Eastern Arabic numerals]] or [[Indian numerals]].]]

[[Leonardo Fibonacci]] was a [[Republic of Pisa|Pisan]] mathematician who had studied in the Pisan trading colony of [[Béjaïa|Bugia]], in what is now [[Algeria]],<ref name="K. K. Tung">{{cite book|first=K. K. |last=Tung|title=Topics in Mathematical Modeling |year=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-8405-6|pages=1}}</ref> and he endeavored to promote the numeral system in Europe with his 1202 book ''{{lang|la|[[Liber Abaci]]}}'':

<blockquote>When my father, who had been appointed by his country as public notary in the customs at Bugia acting for the Pisan merchants going there, was in charge, he summoned me to him while I was still a child, and having an eye to usefulness and future convenience, desired me to stay there and receive instruction in the school of accounting. There, when I had been introduced to the art of the Indians' nine symbols through remarkable teaching, knowledge of the art very soon pleased me above all else and I came to understand it.</blockquote>

The ''{{lang|la|Liber Abaci}}''{{'}}s analysis highlighting the advantages of positional notation was widely influential. Likewise, Fibonacci's use of the Béjaïa digits in his exposition ultimately led to their widespread adoption in Europe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |first=Raffaele |last=Danna |date=2021-07-12 |title=The Spread of Hindu–Arabic Numerals in the European Tradition of Practical Arithmetic: a Socio-Economic Perspective (13th–16th centuries) |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/325042 |publisher=University of Cambridge |degree=PhD |doi=10.17863/cam.72497 |access-date=29 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727110444/https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/325042 |archive-date=27 July 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Fibonacci's work coincided with the European [[commercial revolution]] of the 12th and 13th centuries centered in Italy. Positional notation facilitated complex calculations (such as currency conversion) to be completed more quickly than was possible with the Roman system. In addition, the system could handle larger numbers, did not require a separate reckoning tool, and allowed the user to check their work without repeating the entire procedure. Late medieval Italian merchants did not stop using Roman numerals or other reckoning tools: instead, Arabic numerals were adopted for use in addition to their preexisting methods.<ref name=":0" />