Decimal: Difference between revisions

 

==Origin==

[[File:Two hand, ten fingers.jpg|thumb|right|Ten digits on two hands, the possible origin of decimal counting|upright=1.2]]

Many [[numeral system]]s of ancient civilizations use ten and its powers for representing numbers, possibly because there are ten fingers on two hands and people started counting by using their fingers. Examples are firstly the [[Egyptian numerals]], then the [[Brahmi numerals]], [[Greek numerals]], [[Hebrew numerals]], [[Roman numerals]], and [[Chinese numerals]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lockhart |first=Paul |title=Arithmetic |date=2017 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-97223-0 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England}}</ref>. Very large numbers were difficult to represent in these old numeral systems, and only the best mathematicians were able to multiply or divide large numbers. These difficulties were completely solved with the introduction of the [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]] for representing [[integer]]s. This system has been extended to represent some non-integer numbers, called ''[[#Decimal fractions|decimal fractions]]'' or ''decimal numbers'', for forming the ''decimal numeral system''<ref name=":0" />.