🌐
Nature
nature.com › news › article
The decimal point is 150 years older than historians thought
... Jo Marchant is a freelance science writer based in London. ... The decimal point was invented around 150 years earlier than previously thought, according to an analysis of astronomical tables compiled by the Italian merchant and mathematician Giovanni Bianchini in the 1440s.
🌐
NPR
npr.org › 2024 › 02 › 24 › 1233702474 › the-decimal-point-was-in-use-150-years-before-previously-thought-research-shows
The decimal point was in use 150 years before previously thought, research shows : NPR
February 24, 2024 - The decimal point was in use 150 years before previously thought, research shows NPR's Scott Simon talks to math historian Glen Van Brummelen about his finding that the decimal point appeared in the 1440s, earlier than thought.
Videos
December 8, 2013
1.8K
🌐
Live Science
livescience.com › physics & mathematics › mathematics
World's oldest known decimal point discovered in merchant's notes from 1440s Italy | Live Science
February 22, 2024 - These handy mathematical tools ... (in China). But a consistent system of decimals wasn't fully cemented until 1593, when German mathematician Christopher Clavius used decimals in an astronomical treatise....
🌐
Elephant Learning
elephantlearning.com › post › john-napier-champion-of-decimal-point-early-calculator
John Napier: Champion of the Decimal Point and an Early Calculator | Aug 27, 2024
John Napier was a 16th-century Scottish mathematician who made several important discoveries that facilitated easier and faster computations. He discovered logarithms, popularized the use of the decimal point, and invented his own mechanical system of calculation, called Napier’s bones.
🌐
Quora
quora.com › Who-invented-the-decimal-point
Who invented the decimal point? - Quora
Answer (1 of 4): The earliest use of Fraction is observed about 4000 years ago by Egyptians. Also it has been used extensively by Pythagoras (~500 BC) and by many Indian Mathematicians around 100-200 BC. Although I guess what you are looking for is who used Decimal Points first time to write Fra...
🌐
Popular Mechanics
popularmechanics.com › science › a math genius created the decimal point and became a legend. turns out he stole it.
A Math Genius Created the Decimal Point and Became a Legend. Turns Out He Stole It.
March 21, 2024 - There’s been a mystery lurking in one of the most unassuming parts of mathematics for centuries. When German mathematician Christopher Clavius introduced the world to the humble decimal point in 1593, he used it in one table, and never mentioned it or used it again in any of the rest of his ...
🌐
New Atlas
newatlas.com › science › decimal-point-history-older
The invention of the decimal dot that changed mathematics forever
February 21, 2024 - The answer, it seems, is that Clavius ... back to the 1440s – about 150 years earlier – first appearing in the writings of Italian mathematician Giovanni Bianchini....
🌐
Pen Man's Blog
arindambose.home.blog › 2014 › 04 › 03 › did-you-know-the-history-of-decimal-point
Did You Know: The History of Decimal Point – Pen Man's Blog
October 9, 2019 - Decimal fractions as they look today were used by John Napier, a Scottish mathematician who developed the use of logarithms for carrying out calculations. The modern decimal point became the standard in England in 1619.
🌐
MAE at UFL
web.mae.ufl.edu › uhk › decimal-system.pdf pdf
HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE DECIMAL SYSTEM
GRAPHS OF MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS ... on ODEs, PDEs, Boundary Value Problems and Integral Equations. Plus some historical perspectives on the mathematicians who first examined these problems....
Find elsewhere
🌐
MacTutor History of Mathematics
mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk › Projects › Pearce › chapter-8
Decimal numeration and the place-value system - Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance - Projects - MacTutor History of Mathematics
Prior to its invention, Indian mathematicians had already taken to leaving an empty column on their counting boards and clearly at some point this empty space was filled. The Indians referred to zero as 'sunya' meaning void. Again, although evidence points towards a Mesopotamian origin for a place holder, their 'zero' (two slanted bars) was not used in conjunction with a decimal ...
🌐
CK-12 Foundation
ck12.org › all subjects › cbse math › place value chart - decimals › who invented the decimal point in india?
Flexi answers - Who invented the decimal point in India? | CK-12 Foundation
April 2, 2025 - The concept of the decimal point, as well as the decimal system itself, was not invented in India, but rather in ancient India. The Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata, who lived in the 5th century AD, is credited with introducing the decimal system to the world.
🌐
Smithsonian Magazine
smithsonianmag.com › smart-news › decimal-point-may-be-150-years-older-than-we-thought-180983863
The Decimal Point Is 150 Years Older Than Previously Thought, Medieval Manuscript Reveals
February 29, 2024 - German mathematician Christopher Clavius began using them while writing about astronomy in 1593. But new evidence suggests the decimal point may be 150 years older than previously thought: A 15th-century Venetian merchant named Giovanni Bianchini appears to have used the mathematical ...
🌐
Phys.org
phys.org › news › 2024-02-decimal-centuries-older-historians-thought.html
Use of decimal point is 1.5 centuries older than historians thought
February 20, 2024 - A mathematical historian at Trinity Wester University in Canada, has found use of a decimal point by a Venetian merchant 150 years before its first known use by German mathematician Christopher Clavius. In his paper published in the journal Historia Mathematica, Glen Van Brummelen describes ...
🌐
CK-12 Foundation
ck12.org › all subjects › cbse math › place value chart - decimals › who invented the decimal point?
Flexi answers - Who invented the decimal point? | CK-12 Foundation
April 2, 2025 - The concept of a decimal point or decimal separator has evolved over time, and it is difficult to attribute its invention to a single individual. The modern decimal point, usually represented by a dot or a comma, was first introduced in the work of a Flemish mathematician and engineer named ...

numeral system with ten as its base

Decimal - Wikipedia
decimal multiplication table
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary /ˈdiːnəri/ or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer … Wikipedia
🌐
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Decimal
Decimal - Wikipedia
1 week ago - Al-Khwarizmi introduced fractions ... without a horizontal bar. This form of fraction remained in use for centuries. Positional decimal fractions appear for the first time in a book by the Arab mathematician Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi written in the 10th century....
🌐
Stack Exchange
hsm.stackexchange.com › questions › 11092 › were-decimal-fractions-known-in-europe-before-stevin
mathematics - Were decimal fractions known in Europe before Stevin? - History of Science and Mathematics Stack Exchange

For a history of decimal fractions see Smith's History Of Mathematics, vol II, pp. 238ff. In the Middle East, Smith gives credit to al-Kashi (c.1400), but the relevant algorithms, in a table notation, appear already in al-Samawal (c.1150), see Katz's History of Mathematics, 7.2.3.

Notationally, the fractional separator was initially a bar placed over the digit of units, which was later replaced by a point, possibly for ease of printing. Pellos used the decimal point in print already in 1492, but Cardano still used a bar in 1539. However, neither Pellos nor Cardano appreciated the algorithmic significance of the separator in calculations. According to Smith, the first man to do so in Europe was Rudolff, who performed a sample calculation in Exempel Büchlin (1530). He also used the bar rather than the decimal point, and his work was not appreciated at the time. Smith does not mention della Porta, but his use was likely purely notational, a la Pellos.

The first comprehensive explanation of decimal fraction calculations in Europe is indeed due to Stevin's De Thiende (1585), and after him they became more common. But their final triumph only came after the invention of logarithms by Napier. However, Stevin did not use either the bar or the point, and his notation was, in fact, quite unwieldy: he wrote the power of $1/10$ in a circle after each digit (see facsimile in Smith, p.243). The propagation of the modern notation was due to Bürgi, Kepler, Beyer and Napier. Bürgi used a dot or a comma, and his example was followed. Napier did not use the decimal point in his original publication of the logarithmic tables in 1614, but it appears in their English translation by Wright (1616), and Napier adopted it in Rabdologie (1617). Kepler and Beyer used both comma and $','',''',''''$ placed over digits (as in the ancient sexagesimal notation) in 1616. Here is from Smith:

"Another influence leading to the invention of the decimal fraction was the rule for dividing numbers of the form $a\cdot10^n$, attributed by Cardan (1539) to Regiomontanus... Borghi (1484) elaborates this rule, but it appears in its most interesting form in the rare arithmetic of Pellos (1492), who unwittingly made use of the decimal point for the first time in a printed work (p. 239). The use of the dot before and after integers had been common in the medieval manuscripts, as in the case of Chuquet's work already mentioned, but its use to separate the integer from what is practically a decimal fraction is first seen here. Later writers commonly used a bar for this purpose, as was the case with Rudolff (1530; see page 241), Cardan (1539), Cataneo (1546), and various other writers... Pellos, however, did not recognize the significance of the decimal point, as is evident from the facsimile on page 239, and no more did Cardan appreciate the significance of the bar that he used for the same purpose.

[...] The first man who gave evidence of having fully comprehended the significance of all this preliminary work seems to have been Christoff Rudolff, whose Exempel- Büchlin appeared at Augsburg in 1530. In this work he solved an example in compound interest, and used the bar precisely as we should use a decimal point today (see page 241). If any particular individual were to be named as having the best rea- son to be called the inventor of decimal fractions, Rudolff would seem to be the man, because he apparently knew how to operate with these forms as well as merely to write them, as various predecessors had done. His work, however, was not appreciated, and apparently was not understood, and it was not until 1585 that a book upon the subject appeared.

The first to show by a special treatise that he understood the significance of the decimal fraction was Stevin, who published a work upon the subject in Flemish, followed in the same year (1585) by a French translation. This work, entitled in French La Disme, set forth the method by which all business calculations involving fractions can be performed as readily as if they involved only integers. Stevin even went so far as to say that the government should adopt and enforce the use of the decimal system, thus anticipating the modern metric system. He was the first to lay down definite rules for operating with decimal fractions, and his treatment of the subject left little further to be done except to improve the symbolism... The improvement in the symbolism was due largely to Bürgi, Kepler, and Beyer, and to the English followers of Napier... It is unquestionably true that the invention of logarithms had more to do with the use of decimal fractions than any other single influence."

Answer from Conifold on hsm.stackexchange.com
🌐
Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › science › decimal-fraction
Decimal fraction | mathematics | Britannica
Other articles where decimal fraction is discussed: Simon Stevin: …elementary and thorough account of decimal fractions and their daily use. Although he did not invent decimal fractions and his notation was rather unwieldy, he established their use in day-to-day mathematics.
🌐
Unimelb
extranet.education.unimelb.edu.au › SME › TNMY › Decimals › Decimals › backinfo › metric.htm
History and Metric System
Decimal money and measurement · The evolution of notation for decimals The decimal point marks the ones column
🌐
Newsweek
newsweek.com › science
History of Math Shaken Up As Fundamental Point 150 Years Older Than Thought - Newsweek
February 26, 2024 - The origins of the decimal point, something millions of people use daily, may be much older than we first thought. It was initially considered to have originated in 1593, having been used by German mathematician Christopher Clavius in his creation of astronomical tables.