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How Europeans overcame their fear of zero | DW Documentary

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But why are they called "Arabic numerals" in Europe when they originated in India? And how did zero, a symbol for nothing, become so important?

Following the trail of "our" numbers takes us from India to Baghdad, where scholars like al-Khwarizmi helped spread the new numeral system, and eventually to Europe and beyond. From revolutionizing trade and mathematics to laying the foundations of modern science and computing, the history of our numbers is a story of ideas that crossed cultures and transformed the world.

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