Abstract
The words ‘arithmetic’ and ‘calculation’ have to do with more than numbers. An old German word for algebra is ‘Buchstabenrechnen’, which can be translated as ‘alphabet arithmetic’. The most significant contribution of Indian mathematics in the early Middle Ages was the introduction of letters to designate arbitrary mathematical objects.
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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Bauer, F.L. (2010). Calculations Using Symbols. In: Origins and Foundations of Computing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02992-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02992-9_3
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02992-9
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