Reply #57: nah, they just took it frm the Indians and passed it to the Europeans..who thought Arabs invented it

[Vehl]

Most of the positional base 10 numeral systems in the world have originated from India, where the concept of positional numeration was first developed. The Indian numeral system is commonly referred to in the West as the Hindu-Arabic numeral system or even Arabic numerals, since it reached Europe through the Arabs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_numerals

Only now the Math textbooks in the US are starting to redress this incorrect information. As a College student in the US I was often in the un-enviable position in my classes to stand up and protest this incorrect information. :D Lol even most teachers did not believe me till they actually did some research on their own.


However, amongst mathematicians the fact that the zero and the numerals used were from India was quite well known.
For example

"We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made"
- Albert Einstein


some interesting links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_mathematics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_numerals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_numbering_system