I refer to the letter Whimsical interpretation of Islam wrong .

Perhaps it would be useful for Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib to enlighten us on the origin of numbers since he seems to be convinced they originated from the Arabs.

It's a pity that just because of the words 'Arabic numerals', he has come to the conclusion that they must have been developed or invented by Arabs.

For his information and those of his ilk, early forms of the numerals were developed in India between the 2nd century BC and the 6th century AD. During that period, Indian mathematicians (Hindu mathematicians to be more precise, e.g. Aryabhatta ) realised that a place-value system of notation which included a symbol for zero enabled calculations to be performed by simply writing down numbers instead of using abacus.

The Arabic mathematician Al-Khwarizmi wrote a treatise on this in the early 9th century which was later translated into Latin in the 12th century and the method of calculation by writing down numbers which became known as 'algorism' (a corruption of al-Khwarizmi).

It is imperative for Abdul Rahman to know that the numerals were developed way before the advent of Islam. The Muslims cannot claim patent on this system as he would want to and it's just too bad that they have to rely on oil revenues to become rich.

The generosity and magnanimity of the Hindus is such that they have not claimed patent rights but since Abdul Rahman now knows that they are Hindu numbers, is he going to stop using them?

The numerals 0,1 and on to 9 now in general use are derived from Indian albeit Hindu numerals. The name Arabic is used because Western Europeans learned about the system from Arabic writers. Period.