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Europeans and the Arabic Right-Direction
The Arabic right-direction in the numbers increasing has been excerpted by Europeans and applied to their arithmetic board called: "Abacus", which was - at beginning - vertically columned for decimal positions but from left to right, and the columns were headed with the Roman numbers representing the units, tens, hundreds, etc from left to right as follows: I, X, C, etc.Among the first to be mentioned he prepared such board for himself arranging its decimal positions from right to left is Radulph Von Laon in the twelfth century, but some other European sources report that the proprietor of this arithmetic board's concept was Gerbert (before 1030 AD), and the following is its picture:
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| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 13 | |
| 87 | |
| 4019 | |
| 400520 | |
| 539 | |
| 100065 |
Although the author entering a decorative touch to most of the numerals, but this has not hidden its original source: the Ghebari-Arabic-Eastern..
So if we rotate the two 
90 degrees to the left (anticlockwise), we find it be the Arabic-Eastern two 
; and rotating it additional 45 degrees in the same direction, produces the Ghebzri two, as in Tumbuktu's manuscript.
The three 
, if it is vertically reflected, we almost find it be the Ghebari three of Tumbuktu 
; and if it is rotated - in its new stand - 90 degrees to the right (clockwise), we find it be the Arabic-Eastern three 
.
The five 
, if it is rotated 135 degrees to the left, we find it be the Ghebari five of Tumbuktu 
, and be the Arabic-Eastern five before rounding its tail (anticlockwise) in the Arabic-East.
The six 
if it is vertically reflected, then rotated 90 degrees to the left 
, we find it about to be the Ghebari six of Tumbuktu, and with additional 90 degrees in the same direction 
it is about to be the Eastern six as in the modern Persian form.
The seven 
if it is vertically reflected, we find it be the Ghebari seven of Tumbuktu 
, and if it is horizontally reflected - at its either stands - we find it be the Arabic-Eastern seven: 
.
While the four kept its stand, which is the figure that an eye can not mistake its resemblance with both the four of Tumbuktu and its old Arabic-Eastern sibling.
As for the zero, the board has ignored its figure being a digit of no value in itself rather than it has not been known - as Dr. Sigrid Hunke stated in her book - till the Arabic mathematicians first decided to depict it as a little circle, some day, some where in the Arabic-East.
Dr. Sigrid Hunke has also stated (p. 87, Arabic Ed.): "He (Alkhawarizmi) adds: The zero must be to the right of a figure, because a zero to the left of the two (02), for instance, changes not its value, and not making it to be twenty. We will see … that occidental translators of the Arabic sources have literally translated that into Latin and transcribed [the numerals'] reading and writing system at the Arabs, i.e. from right to left".
The European museum painting below shows a contest in how fast getting the arithmetic result between two men; one applies the (new) Arabic numeral system, and the other calculates using the old Roman board (before it disappears). Notice the arrangement of the numbers' pebbles on the abacus of the old calculator (to the right) and how they increase from left to right:
However, ancient Greeks were the most previous Europeans in learning the numerical system from Arabs. In the research: "Romooz Al-a'dadd Fi Alketabatt Al'arabiyat رموز الأعداد في الكتابات العربية" [Numerals' symbols in the Arabic writings], by Dr. Mohammad Hamdi Albakri, previously mentioned, he stated that: "Ancient Greeks were among the first to use the alphabet letters as numerical symbols by approximately 550 BC. Later on, they put them in their positions, so they wrote, for instance, 2831 as: βωλα (α = 1; ؛ λ = 30 ؛ ω = 800; β = 2000). For they lack the zero, the advancement of the arithmetic science has been hampered at the Greeks".
As it is obvious, Greeks, though they transcribed not - in that early time - the figures' shapes used in writing the Arabic numerals due to what they have been at of civilization and dominion, have not changed the Arabic right direction in writing their numerals. Of course, Greeks can never be those who determined that arithmetic direction, not only because they are of left-direction writing-reading, but it is not perceivable for their mind to break for a thousand of years (from 550 BC - ca. 750 AD; some four decades past Andalusia's conquest) from inventing the zero while they have been known for a civilization and scientific and mathematical antecedence! This precedence of the ancient Greeks in learning writing the numerals system from Arabs need not an explanation after we have known what has been of direct and dense touch with and trade connections between Greeks both in Egypt and north Mediterranean, on one side, and the Nabataean Arabs on the other side. But, as almost every thing in their history, Nabataeans have gone without leaving - perhaps - their story with the numerals.
Forging the Arabic merit - even before they get weak and be of little importance to the others - had more than a proof in the past, and the recent are even more. I display another example with what the aforesaid Sri Lankan author (B. Munasinghe, in "Sunday Observer" online magazine, 19/9/2004,) has provided in his article of recent Arabic-Eastern numerals as they have been Arabic numerals dating back to 900 AD in an endeavor to prove the Sri Lankan origination of the numerals the Europeans learnt from the Arabs, using the following fake picture, and being unaware that the ancient Arabic manuscript disclose his allegation:
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