The history of numeral systems is deeply intertwined with the development of human civilization, as early societies needed to quantify and record various aspects of life, including trade, astronomy, and the passage of time. The earliest numeral systems appeared in ancient Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE, where the Sumerians developed a base-60 (sexagesimal) system.

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This system was later adopted by the Babylonians and greatly influenced subsequent numeral systems. Similarly, ancient Egyptians used a system based on powers of ten, which was primarily additive, employing distinct symbols for various powers such as 1, 10, 100, and so on.

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The Greeks introduced the concept of using letters of the alphabet as numerals. Their system, known as the Greek alphabetic numeral system, was a base-10 system but relied on their alphabet to represent numbers. In ancient Rome, the Roman numeral system became the dominant form of notation, which was also based on an additive and subtractive approach. The use of symbols like I, V, X, L, C, D, and M to represent values laid the foundation for representing numbers in a practical manner for centuries, though it lacked a symbol for zero and had limitations for more complex arithmetic.

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The concept of zero and the place value system, which would revolutionize numeral systems, came from ancient India. By around the 5th century CE, Indian mathematicians had developed a fully decimal place value system that included a symbol for zero. This system was first documented in the Bakhshali Manuscript and later spread to the Islamic world through translations and the work of scholars in the Abbasid Caliphate, such as al-Khwarizmi. The Arabs also made significant advancements in mathematics and algebra, further refining the numeral system and spreading it through their empire.

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By the 10th century, Arabic numerals had made their way into Europe through the work of scholars like Fibonacci, who popularized the use of these numerals in his book Liber Abaci (1202). Despite initial resistance, especially from clerics and scholars who favored Roman numerals, the simplicity and efficiency of the Arabic numeral system began to gain acceptance, especially for commercial and scientific purposes. The widespread use of these numerals was also facilitated by the printing press in the 15th century, which helped standardize their usage across Europe.

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Over the following centuries, the Arabic numeral system, now known as the "modern numerals," became the standard for most of the world. The system's efficiency for calculations, especially with the use of zero as a placeholder, helped propel advancements in mathematics, science, and technology. By the 17th century, the use of Arabic numerals was widespread across Europe and beyond, becoming the dominant system of numeration used globally today.

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Even across visual, linguistic, and numeric diversity, there has always been a human impulse to link numbers and meaning. But of all the numeral systems that could have taken hold, one prevailed. And within that system—within English and its Latin-rooted alphabet—a message emerged in the matrix that defies coincidence.