A Generalized Base for Integers

Abstract

One of the most important notations in mathematics, the positional system of no-tation of numbers, seems to have been invented in India by the Hindus. It was certainly transmitted to the Western world by the Arabs in about the eighth century A.D. At first the Hindu-Arabic system of notation was of interest only in the marketplace, but eventually it came to be of interest to mathematicians, and it is still the object of considerable study.