Why does the west use Arabic Numerals? (Short Animated Documentary)

Why does the western world, who are proudly descended from the Romans, use the Arabic Numeral system instead of the Roman one? You can find out why and when that change happened in this short and simple animated documentary.
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Sources:
Arithmetic with Roman Numerals by James Kennedy
MEDIEVAL TRADERS AS INTERNATIONAL CHANGE AGENTS: A COMPARISON WITH TWENTIETH CENTURY INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING FIRMS by Larry M. Parker
ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS AND RECORDING PROCEDURES IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC STATE by Omar Abdullah Zaid
THE INTRODUCTION OF "ARABIC" NUMERALS IN EUROPEAN ACCOUNTING by John W. Durham

[@LUKE-lo7sh]

a roman walks into a bar, holds up 2 fingers and says "five beers please"

[@georgeamesfort3408]

*Noice*

[@alexandrub8786]

That means that if he would do andrew's cross(the one on the scottish flag) he would want X or 10.

[@chairmanmeow3884]

Change it into 8, for more relevancy

[@Turki-il9lz]

Stolen from the Microsoft version of Google or Alexa

[@SWNerd]

turki alhaddabi cortana

[@Cpt2much]

Seeing History Matters explain multiplication in Roman numerals gave me a stroke

[@DarkMatterKid]

Hence why we stopped using them

[@3bydacreekside]

I might be able to get it after 30 tries on just that number

[@brandonlyon730]

There was no zero in roman numeral’s either so there wasn’t much you can do to represent nothing of an amount.

[@appleslover]

Try to use another base and wonder what will you have after that.

[@GuyNamedSean]

apple's lover - I dunno, Base 12 is pretty easy to understand, you just have to get used to 10 meaning twelve and having two new symbols. Base 2 is also easy because there's so little to it. I guess computer nerds might also find Base 16 easy because hexadecimal stuff is everywhere in code, but I'm not really too used to it.

[@alandolawson1924]

*“And there’s your answer, hence why we got rid of them”* That, that right there is why I love this channel

[@sudind]

Audibly laughed

[@loneprimate]

@@sudind Me too, absolutely loved that line. :D

[@elKarlo]

That last way to do multiplication was basically witchcraft. But yes that and the zingers keep me coming back

[@donguapo7862]

​@@sudind same

[@Waydisturbed]

Agreed!

[@alabamaal225]

Once the concept of including "Zero" as part of the Arabic numerals set became understood, the triumph of the system was assured.

[@hellohello9400]

They aren’t “Arabic” at all they are Hindu in origin. Lookup who conceptualized and came up with zero.

[@LeSyd1984]

How do your right zero in Roman Numerals? is it: ?

[@ezazahmed8379]

@@LeSyd1984 zero came from the Indian concept of 'Shunwa', literally meaning nothingness. The Abbassids were convinced of its usefulness from a certain historical figure you already know the name of. Zero became widespread in the Caliphate arguably more than in India. Hence it became part of the Arabic numeral system.

[@ebadurrahman7848]

@@hellohello9400 numbers Arabic at all? Ha what a joke!!

[@devashisdas5024]

@@ezazahmed8379 it is called Arabic numerals because Western nations got the system's existence through Arabs. There are many stupid naming happened by them & practiced because of colonial attitude. Decimal system was invented & totally improved in India. Persian scholars like Al-Khwarizmi had practiced & translated them which was used by the Arab merchants & Europeans had chance to get acquainted with the system.

[@zeroshadow96]

“And there’s your answer, hence why we got rid of them” - solid explanation haha

[@lucklamotti5419]

Lol! Right?!

[@alexanderblackwood9143]

He said it after showing us the very unintuitive way they multiplied Roman Numerals. I felt just that one example was solid proof, lol

[@annaclarafenyo8185]

@@alexanderblackwood9143 The algorithm he showed may not be how humans multiply today, but it is how every digital computers does multiplication.

[@Ninja_Octopus]

@@annaclarafenyo8185 Really? Why is the most efficient digitally?

[@annaclarafenyo8185]

@@Ninja_Octopus It's because it's fundamentally binary multiplication, and computers use binary because the multiplication table for two digits, 0 and 1, gives a very quick and simple procedure. That's the Egyptian method, it's just normal multiplication in base 2.

[@yassineszn17]

James bizonnette is history's matter sugar daddy

[@AbdulGoodLooks]

The legend himself

[@pwnageshow2549]

Lol james bizonnete got money 😂 i cant even afford to waste money on netflix. Yet this guy throw money left and right on youtube 😂

[@YouuuuuuTosserrrr]

And Izzy?

[@comradekenobi6908]

I don't get it

[@brodown64]

@@comradekenobi6908 James is mostly the first donation named at the end of History Matters videos.

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

I found this video to be quite informative! For instance, I never knew that Roman multiplication was so complicated! No wonder we adopted the much-shorter Hindu-Arabic numerals! Thanks for the information!

[@alyankhan7481]

I never thought I would hear those two names in the same word 🤣 ( hindu and Arabic)

[@arctrip]

@@alyankhan7481 that’s literally what it’s called

[@arctrip]

@@user-wm1du1pu3i nope. The numeral system used in English and many other languages is called Hindu-Arabic Numeral system.

[@user-wm1du1pu3i]

@@arctrip I don't know where the word Hindu came from. Isn't it supposed to be called Indian or just because whoever invented it is a Hindu? And on the idea of ​​Al-Khwarizmi, the inventor of Arabic numerals is not an Arab. So isn't it supposed to be called Islamic numbers? Of course, this If we go according to what you say, because those who developed Al-Khwarizmi's numbers and used them to create new equations and deliver them to Europe are the Arabs.

[@maas1208]

That numeral system was actually created by Indian Muslims

[@peacebewu]

In the Philippines, we were taught(iirc) that these were hindu-arabic instead of just "arabi numerals".

[@Kapoosh000]

Hindu-arabic is more correct. We call them Arabic numerals because we were introduced to them by Arabic people, not because it was only Arabic people who invented them.

[@dynamitebsb4520]

@@Kapoosh000 we in India call it Indian numerals...cause we invented it and we are using it... so that's that

[@DanielGalimidi]

This reminds of the meme where there's a poll that asks "Should schools in America be forced to teach Arabic numerals as part of their curriculum?" with 43% answering yes and 57% answering no.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

Sounds like that campaign about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide...

[@resumepeacetalks600]

🇺🇸

[@julianhermanubis6800]

Ave, Americanum.

[@indefiniteabyss1257]

The other 57% knew that its indian number, not arabic.

[@suhassreehari876]

It's hindu numerals fool

[@nicorhodes837]

Seeing multiplication done with Roman Numerals made me for the first time understand what true pain felt like.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

And I thought I had it bad at school...

[@f_f_f_8142]

That algorithm is actually quite interesting. It equates to the normal school technique used in base 2.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

It's the algorithm generally known as the "Russian Peasant" method, which I learned about sometime in school and for some reason I think it was in an abstract algebra or something similarly high level, not in elementary or secondary school. I have no idea where the name comes from, and on Wikipedia it's found under Ancient Egyptian multiplication, which is very similar but more obviously based on base 2 numbers. I'd never heard of it being used for multiplying Roman numerals, but it's probably easier than trying to replicate the standard way of multiplying numbers written in modern base ten.

[@joestraw8870]

Take your maths exams again but put all the answers in Roman numerals out of spite.

[@rpepperuk]

That is one of the most interesting things I’ve learnt in a long time… you rock ☺️

[@bernardo1712]

I’m a history major and I learn more in this channel than in class. Congrats!

[@Watcher6868]

Drop out of your school unless you are there on a scholarship

[@CrunchyLlamaToes99]

Today on: “ topic I never would’ve thought of but now that you mention it I’m interested”

[@joshuaburnett7643]

Today on: is this exact comment going to be on the video already

[@stupidminotaur9735]

their Greek not arabic

[@jakea5915]

Today on: "unoriginal comments that somehow get a bunch of likes because people are oblivious"

[@fakechloe207]

@@jakea5915 that's the KZbin comment section in a nutshell.

[@mojewjewjew4420]

@@jakea5915 You mean a bunch of sheep abusing the like button

[@afrikasmith1049]

Imagine having a calculator that only does Roman Numerals.

[@LoFiAxolotl]

was one of the first tasks i had to do in the early 2000s while studying computer science... i remember us laughing thinking how easy it'd be..... ohhh boy were we wrong

[@concept5631]

Those poor bastards.

[@jonathanbuzzard6648]

@@LoFiAxolotl unless it was banned in the asignment you write a converter from Roman numerals to an int and from an int to Roman numerals and it is as easy as pie. At least that is what I did and got full marks :)

[@mrrandom1265]

I would buy that

[@anicecomfybedforyoutosleep7302]

no 80085

[@RealPeasantLord]

Fun fact, the only numbers you can have in the denominator of a fraction where the resulting decimal doesn’t repeat infinitely are any multiples of the prime factors of your number systems base. So for base 10, the only fractions that won’t infinitely repeat as decimals are 1/(2^x*5^y), since the prime factors of 10 are 2 and 5

[@Ptaku93]

These are words

[@RealPeasantLord]

@@Ptaku93 Indeed

[@hiphopesq]

"system's" base...and now I've contributed something.

[@fletchadox1421]

Well done. This is really informative.

[@briangreen1781]

Imagine doing long division in Roman Numerals? The horror...

[@violetsky1285]

I'd forget my name and existence

[@Vincent_Quak]

quantum physics in roman numerals would be hilarious though

[@weirnershittler6752]

Vincent Quak how to become insane 101

[@GuiltyMelly]

I forgot how to do long division with actual numbers

[@momo-cchi5978]

I'd end up k*lling everyone in my class and then k*ll myself if that ever happened. 😣

[@KnowingBetter]

I finally know how they did math with Roman numerals!

[@someguy4512]

hi I wasn't expecting you to be here lol .

[@richardescobar9306]

SomeGuy45' neither was I, I just came from watching one of his videos lol

[@alonsocerva2596]

You are not james bissonette

[@user-fv6km9ey2w]

*crossover detected*

[@yunleung2631]

Heyyyyy. It’s the genocide channel!

[@rosiefay7283]

2:42 It's even harder than that, because even addition is tricky because there's much more carrying. In your example, III+II+IV becomes IX, and it's only a matter of luck that CLX didn't need any more carrying.

[@ram0166]

When I was taught about the history of our numerical system in school they were called Hindu-Arabic numeral system. When I started seeing people refer to Arabic numbers on social media I wasn’t sure what they were talking about at first.

[@maas1208]

This numeral system was actually created by Indian Muslims

[@ram0166]

@@maas1208 let me guess, Muslims discovered America and invented computers too

[@maas1208]

@@ram0166 yes

[@genz8606]

Indian muslims didn't created it... But were created by hindus...go and learn correct history

[@AJAYSINGH-ns1vv]

​@@maas1208 what are you dreaming. They're invented by brahmins of India.

[@nikolaivanov3344]

History matters: *uploads The comments: James Bissonete

[@comradekenobi6908]

I don't get it, plz explain Russian man

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Don't forget Danny Maloney.

[@bioshockftw123isBACK]

What about partyboyco?

[@PANZERFAUST90]

Seriously people need to stop with this stupid shit. He's not the only supporter; his name just usually comes first and it's most likely because he donates the most money.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

The man, the legend.

[@moblinmajorgeneral]

I can't even begin to think how modern mathematics would've even come close to fruition without Arabic Numerals.

[@IamJustaSimpleMan]

@@allan7380 and French fries are from Belgium. Good luck to convince people to call them Belgian fries 😊☺ Some names historically developed, and association and actual source are 2 very different things.

[@alejandroojeda1572]

Horribly. However I think we would eventually end Up with a a very similar number system.

[@alilabeebalkoka]

@@allan7380 the United States thinks everyone should take up the imperial systems instead! Unfortunately it is more likely for the rest of the world to change over to the imperial systems before the United States of America switching over.

[@aakashdutta7921]

It's The Hindu(Indo) number system.

[@syrialak101]

@@IamJustaSimpleMan Aren't French fries called French fries because they were made by a method of cooking then known as "French frying," now called deep frying?

[@MarkAhrens-HeritageFilms]

Fantastically Fast! Keep it up!!

[@oliversherman2414]

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!!

[@Alkerae]

2:28 "13 x 13 in Roman Numerals... ... Hence why we got rid of them." MIND BLOWN, WHAAAAAAAT

[@NotOneOfUs]

"Hence why we got rid of them." That was one of the shortest and best explanations for anything ever. Beats the hell out of school in my days.

[@margaretnm7487]

Love this channel! I feel like I’ve learned something while rolling on the floor laughing 😊

[@tenhirankei]

There's also the part about the Arabic numerals including the zero that made the decimal system easier to understand and convey.

Welcome to the comment section or:I love James Bissonete and I hope he would marry my daughter.

[@alexandrub8786]

Louis of Prussia?

[@MomMom4Cubs]

I'm a fan of Skye Chappelle.

[@wilhelmii6221]

Well, well, well...what do we have here? A Kaiser lookalike!

[@mrhohenzollern3399]

Wait who are you

[@houssamassila6274]

what about the cutest of all? Fielder oink oink

[@ricardoguanipa8275]

Meanwhile in the Inca Empire: "Hey, how much for that lama?" "At least a 2 handfuls of Rope"

[@attiepollard7847]

Lmao omg funny

[@markhenley3097]

Lmao omg funny

[@comradekenobi6908]

Lmao omg funny

[@biliminsrlar5752]

ynnuf gmo oamL

[@San_Deep2501]

Lmao omg funny

[@middleearth8809]

Thanks for that. I will be able to sleep tonight, you have answered a question that has vexed me for years.

[@RamtinHG]

Actually khawrazmi Iranian scientist redesigned those hindu numbers and from latin translation of his book these numbers spread in west . The numeral system came to be known to both the Persian mathematician Khwarizmi, who wrote a book, On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals in about 825, 830. Persian scientist Kushyar Gilani who wrote Kitab fi usul hisab al-hind (Principles of Hindu Reckoning) is one of the oldest surviving manuscripts using the Hindu numerals.[1

[@blazingphantom2813]

I got XCIX problems but counting is definitely one

[@concept5631]

I got XCIX problems but counting is definitely *_*I_*

[@Perririri]

Normius Maximus

[@depressedmidlifecrisistimm3043]

Jackius Offititis

[@ahbabmuttaki1856]

You arse

[@stevemc01]

I got [99] problems, but counting is definitely [1].

[@ericjamieson]

The most interesting part of the video was seeing how multiplication with Roman numerals worked.

[@rosiefay7283]

Yes. I've heard this method called the Russian peasants' method (or similar names). I didn't know Romans used it too. I'd like to point out that halving say LVI (getting XXVIII) is not trivial.

[@meberg500]

@@rosiefay7283 I'm still not over the part where 13/2=6

[@auzakov1977]

@@meberg500 idk if Roman numerals had a decimal back then, rounded up it'd be 6

[@entcraft44]

This algorithm has the advantage of not requiring the memorization of multiplication tables. You only ever halve or double numbers. You don't need to know what e.g. 8*7 or 6*4 are. Hence why it is called peasants' multiplication. But it was used long before that, probably invented by the ancient Egyptians.

[@entcraft44]

@@meberg500 You always round down / discard the remainder.

[@filipmerksa1426]

Brilliant. Love this channel so much

[@bloqk16]

I recall back in grade school when my teacher decided to have fun with her students with assigning a multiplication arithmetic test with using Roman numerals. We were good for the first two equations calculations; but then when the later calculations required a zero, most of us youngsters got stumped.

[@bigrustle6851]

Came for Arabic Numerals, stayed for James Bisonette. Edit: Yes I know it's one of those comments. I did enjoy the video, they never fail to either surprise me or make me laugh. Top notch.

[@PANZERFAUST90]

He's not the only supporter you know...

[@haris000000]

@@PANZERFAUST90 of course who can forget spinning three plates XD

[@Peterlovesgarage]

The Patron / Patreon supporter read out should always end with “Iz-ie / pronounced... Is-he?” (apologies as I haven’t checked the spelling) ... that’s pretty much all I listen out for. Izzy / Ishe is the perfect ending. Please make amends, and go back to this very best of temporary, just made up, yet well established traditions.

[@sealboi2464]

Dude this is the funniest shit I’ve read all day

[@amritbarn26]

IZZY?

[@paulnash6944]

I still remember when I joked with a cashier at my college that I’ve used Arabic numerals my whole life, but still confuse them, and she was impressed that I knew Arabic numerals because she didn’t know it was the 0-9 symbols we all know and love. I laugh about that moment to this day.

[@comradekenobi6908]

Most people are like you, they don't realize it, although it's also kinda originated from India, then the Arabs develop it more

[@BoxStudioExecutive]

If you ever looked at what Arabic numerals actually looked like, it’s safe to say you’ve never used them.

[@indefiniteabyss1257]

They would probably laugh at you for becoming this ignorant. Those numbers are indian not arab

[@paulnash6944]

Boratstromm's Mongoose Ah, that makes sense.

[@paulnash6944]

indefinite abyss Hey, I didn’t know!

[@hereLiesThisTroper]

The face of that guy at seeing the number 7 is priceless!

[@YouTube-are-Tory-Toilet-Crud]

Eye opening fascination! Thanks 😉👍

[@TheBanzaiCharge]

Imagine the "show your work" area in math if we still used roman numerals

[@reaperfellsans8478]

*N O*

[@danielbishop1863]

They'd let you use an abacus.

[@YourLocalMairaaboo]

*Burns the roman flag.* No. Just no.

[@nickcastings1568]

Your teacher wouldn’t know if you were right or just swearing at them

[@maas1208]

@@YourLocalMairaaboo Hooray victory to Islam

[@hossdelgado2]

welp I just learned that the Cyrillic numeral system existed.

[@davidgreen5994]

Yeah, and somehow looks like is even worse than the roman numeral system.

[@ahbabmuttaki1856]

Same

[@Sascha969]

Nice stuff for encrypted messages

[@SKa-tt9nm]

Shoutout Bulgarian empire

[@carlknaack1019]

Yeah, it looks kind of like the Greek or Hebrew numeral system. Roman numerals are so much easier than those, it is the same difference as between Arabic and Roman.

[@vahidmirkhani]

Can you PLEASE tell us how to do square roots in Roman numerals?🥺 It must be easy.

[@12yr]

What I love about the Arabic Numberals is that it takes only one stroke of line with the exception of the number '4' It makes it really fast to draw

[@vladof_putler]

*Hindu Arabic

[@PK-se2jh]

Weirdly Indian invented all of these including 0 but they get no credit at all. Whole name is changed to "Arabic numerals" just because europeans got them from middle east

[@nicholasvinen]

You can write 4 with one stroke if you do the closed top (similar to a triangle) version.

[@RustedGreatBascinet]

@@PK-se2jh Weirdly, the Arabs actually developed the system, made it proper, and used it for mathematics instead of just being a concept.

[@grammy1620]

5 takes two strokes

[@prakharsinha4971]

KZbin: hey wanna watch why we use Arabic Numericals over roman ? Me who has never passed maths exam at 3 AM : *Intersting*

[@oliverlacota3112]

Stop taking them at 3 AM, then.

[@meneither3834]

I've done math on college and also never took exam at 3 am.

[@JonatasAdoM]

I love that the comment has a double meaning. Maybe it has something to do with how brain's aversion to math. Please don't edit it.

[@radjadawamindra697]

Omoshiroi

[@festethephule7553]

And here we see an example of the importance of proper puncuation.

[@runneruwu]

I wonder if there's a number system that has yet to be invented that would make Rocket Science easy for toddlers

[@JK03011997]

while this is clearly a meme, let me try to give an overly serious answer: our number system is nice in that it makes arithmetic of large numbers into something you can break up into smaller ones. Like splitting up addition and multiplication by digits. The trick being that the way we write down numbers tells us what it's remainders for division by powers of 10 are. So in effect we just learn all the stuff up tp 10 by heart and then the notation tells us how a number is split up into 10s. This works really great for stuff like that, but operations like exponentiation gets very tedious. Like 13+13 is easy, 13*13 takes a couple seconds, but 13^13? Hard. Log_8(13)? No clue. One thing that can do better on those operations would be a notation that would tell you what the log (or even repeated logs) of a number is. Then 13*13 becomes as easy as addition is for us since log(13*13)=log(13)+log(13) and even better 13^13 would be easy as log(13^13)=13*log(13) which you could simplify just like the 13*13 example. Does such a number system exist? Well the closest thing in terms of written stuff I can think of would be the scientific notation. If you learn the log_10 of the integers from 1-10 (the way we currently learn stuff like 3+5=8) then then you can pretty easily see the log of a number when written like that. 500 would be written 5*10^2 if you know that log_10(5) is about 0.7 then you can immediately see that log_10(500) is about 2.7 telling you that the log(500^500)~1350 which means 500^500 is about 10^1350. Not super accurate (we're off by a factor of 3) but doing the calculation the decimal way would be very very tedious. Downside - addition isn't as easy. In the extreme case (just writing down the log of a number) addition becomes exactly as tedious as exponentiation is for arabic numerals. THE REAL DEAL: There is a real and actually useful implementation of logarithmic number representation though that was very popular last century and widely used. Depending on how old you are you, or your parents, might have learned how to use it in school. Slide rules. What the abacus (in one way of using it) is for arabic numberals te slide rule is for logarithmic numbers. A number is represented by a position of a slider (which is nicely marked with the arabic number, so you don't need to remember yourself) and magically even crazy difficult operations like 9.81*350*Log(890/757) or (6*10^11 * 6*10^24 / 6400)^0.5 become a trivial matter of sliding a plastic marker back and forth a couple of times. These incidentally are the calculations for the maximum speed an 890t fueled/757t empty spacecraft with an isp of 350s can achieve and the velocity required to escape the earths gravity - as you can see these are almost entirely exponentiation, multiplication and logs. Exactly the stuff a logarithmic number system works great for. It is no wonder you can see a lot of slide rules in footage taken at 60s nasa.

[@AdamBechtol]

mmmmmm

[@laszlofekete9245]

@@JK03011997 Exactly what I wanted to say!

[@gmoroder]

@@JK03011997 beautiful explanation, thanks!

[@m.m.1301]

@@JK03011997 I didn't understand a word of what you said, but it seems reliable so you're getting my like

[@michellegiacalone1079]

Love these! You should do a follow up video on the Church's long resistance to the concept of zero which really delayed the adoption of Arabic numerals.

[@deepaklegaldeepak]

Arabic numerals are nothing but Hindu numerals.

[@adog3129]

sorry, the numbers are letters because god says zero is made up

[@falconeshield]

Why is it always the Christians

[@martinroncetti4134]

Interesting, I never gave multiplication a thought using Roman numerals until this video. Great, info video!

[@randomdude9135]

That "oink oink" at the end always gets me 😂

[@rianqi]

Mine is "A man with culture"...

[@jimtaylor294]

Mine is "Izzy?"

[@k0mentator507]

Jim Taylor "spinning 3 plates"

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

@@rianqi 🙏😂😂🤣 i hope all have funny names like you guys

[@s-ritchi3402]

Last time I was this early James Bisonnette was only a legend

[@biliminsrlar5752]

He is a living legend.

[@PANZERFAUST90]

You spelled his name wrong and he's not the only supporter...

[@nestyie3835]

@@PANZERFAUST90 you don't have to keep commenting on every James Bizonnette related comment

[@TechSupport900]

It’s bizonnette

[@jimtaylor294]

Ah; a man of Bizonette culture I see.

[@anders630]

Thank you! I've never seen someone explain how to multiply in roman numerals before.

[@Jibril_Adaov]

Great video

[@matthewshipley739]

0:34 Still cracks me up to this day 🤣🤣🤣

[@diyaroy5059]

😂😂😂

[@Campeon99]

XIV plus xvixvxvxv = luh

[@Campeon99]

Obviously 🙄

[@_vla]

"Bye" said the roman numerals "Heyyyyyy" said the arabic numbers

[@crankthetank3581]

History of the entire world, i guess refrence aye?

[@rohatb]

Eating the entire Mediterranean for breakfast.

[@lehistoryconnoisseur1441]

Rohat Berken Çelik Thanks for invading our homeland

[@rohatb]

Said the Jews, getting tired of people invading their homeland

[@biliminsrlar5752]

@@rohatb "hi. everything's great" said some guy who seems to be getting very popular

[@dejomonylemon956]

@0:51 how he just stares on disbelief at the number 7 🤣

[@MCsCreations]

Dude, I've just found your channel... Yesterday, I believe. And I already watched many videos! It's a really treasure! Take good care of it!

[@Facio_]

actually, people didn’t do maths with roman numerals, if you needed to add something, you needed the help of someone who knew how to use an abacus properly. that’s why fibonacci wrote “liber abaci” (the book of the abacus), in which he was against them.

[@philip8498]

arabic numerals are still superior. multiplying with an abacus is a pain i imagine

[@PastPresented]

@@philip8498 Multiplying with an abacus involves a little cheating: you need to memorise the multiplication tables up to 9x9!

[@ahbabmuttaki1856]

@@philip8498 I used to be an abacus learner and yeah...you need courses from the start to even think about how to do it.

[@ahbabmuttaki1856]

@@PastPresented yeah...I was first surprised when out teacher told us that.

[@parthbonde2106]

@@PastPresented So does normal multiplication?

[@jonas1015119]

Today I learned how multiplication with roman numerals worked. Jesus Christ.

[@marcelob.678]

Hail Kaiser Reinhard!

[@Scorpio1075]

The math example was History Matters gold, literally laughed out loud. Love this channel, special thanks to James Bizonnette. LOL 🤣

[@WSDFirm]

Thanks, I especially like this one. I knew nothing about this change over. Now I do :-)

[@judecaruso434]

Last time I was this early there was one Rome

[@theotakuking4136]

In my heart the Roman Imperium lives on

[@miguelpadeiro762]

There still is, went there before covid, pretty beautiful...tons of Senegalese trying to sell you bracelets, but you still got all the wonders of the city and that one statue of Julius Caeser filled with pigeon shit

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

India? Didn’t know that was the origin. And they’ve got *spices*

[@NotAmira_]

Thanks Kim for making the hamburger

[@KitchenSinkSoup]

You still alive mate?

[@yogi_gs]

The real question wich part of india because with only said it from india will invite many coment from indian espesialy the hatefull one

[@tanmaysrivastav]

It is called Hindu-Arabic System. People just miss out the Hindu part which would make i much clear.

[@MrRemicas]

The spices must flow!

[@rayoflight62]

Thanks for the video. One fact about Roman numerals, worth of note, is about the number 4. You may know that the correct way to write down the number 4, is IV. But if you look at any clock face, you will find the writing IIII for the number 4. When written alone, the 4 is noted as IIII. That's why the Romans went to great lengths to avoid upsetting the father of all Gods, IVPITER. A stand alone 4 uses the same writing as the initials of the name IVPITER; and that would have attracted unnecessarily the attention of the capricious boss of all Gods. Therefore, the Romans avoided any occasion for even the slighter misunderstanding, so a standalone number 4 was written as IIII instead of IV. We can't say, even today, if the different notation for the number 4 was because of their extreme respect, or because of superstition...

[@jongreen9171]

Really? My kitchen clock had IIII rather than IV and I have always thought this was an error. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[@entcraft44]

I had once heard that the "IIII" on clock faces is used to make them seem more "balanced" because the numerals on the left side have more strokes. Interesting to see that there is an older explanation!

[@lotusmojo]

awesome video!!!

[@AapoJoki]

2:14 I love that meadow prancing scene every time

[@T33K3SS3LCH3N]

It took Japan until the 19th century to adopt them, but nowadays they are also common in everyday writing. They already used a decimal system adopted from China, which feels like it's somewhere between Arabic and Roman numerals. Even nowadays its quite intuitive to use since it got all ten decimal digits 0-9, it's just that powers of ten like 10 and 100 have their own characters so you write "ten-three" rather than "one-three" to say "thirteen". Meaning it was pretty easy to adapt for them. They still use their old numeral system as well in many places. No need to sweat about maybe 20 more characters if you already need to know like 3000.

[@b4ttlemast0r]

The traditional Japanese / Chinese system is basically just writing it exactly as pronounced. Keep in mind that they don't have irregular numbers like eleven, twelve, the -teens and -ty's, instead they say ten-five for fifteen, two-ten for twenty etc, just like we say three-hundred or four-thousand. So instead of writing, for example, four-two-zero, they would write four-hundred-two-ten. And in fact, a system commonly used is actually combining Arabic and Chinese numerals. Whereas English spoken numerals are based on multiples of thousand, like thousand, million, billion, trillion etc, the Japanes numerals work in the same way but based on multiples of ten thousand: 万 man (ten thousand), 億 oku (100 million), 兆 chou (1 trillion) etc. Commonly, these are written with Chinese characters, while the rest of the number is written in Arabic numerals, so for example 420 million is ４億２０００万. You may even see something like 3.4万, meaning 34000, similar to how KZbin uses 3.4K or 3.4M in English.

[@KaotikBOOO]

​​@@b4ttlemast0r??? There's a lot of irregular numerals in Japanese You even have to play with 2 sets of numbers while jumping from one another They're only kinda regular when removing all context (when you're not talking about quantities/counting anything/...) and even then there's usually a jump from Chinese to Japanese numerals for 4 and 7 in some cases and not others

[@Alakazam001]

All these things like number system/ decimal system/ buddhism /algebra trignometry/ Chess etc originated in India during the GUPTA empire. Known as golden age of India.

[@markjd4]

Don’t forget, Americans are better versed in Roman Numerals than many Europeans for one simple reason: the Super Bowl.

[@nik65stgt60]

Very interesting! Thanks!

[@sail2byzantium]

A wonderful video that fulfills Horace's dictum of both delighting and instructing. The Roman numeral math lesson with the concluding "and there's your answer--hence why we got rid of them" was laugh-out-loud funny (and it was neat to see how you could actually multiply Roman numerals). A deserved thumbs up! Love this channel!

[@FriendlyMarmot]

2:28 Amazing! I saw this and was like "WTF, how does this even work", and then when trying it for myself with 32 in the left column, all of the sudden, it hit me: Dividing the left column in half until you get to 1 while doubling the other side basically means you are forcing the product of the 2 factors to be expressed by counting in binary!! I noticed it because cutting 32 in half gave me 16, 8, 4, 2, 1, which are all digit values used in binary. The number of times you can halve the left-side number gives you the number of binary digits you'll be adding together, and crossing out the even ones is like marking the digit "0" or "off". Then you add all the "1" or "on" bits together and get your number. You can kind of "binarize" any number in the left-hand though. That doesn't explain every tiny detail of it, but it gives me a pretty good idea of the basic mechanism and what's going on. :)

[@FriendlyMarmot]

So now does that mean that the Romans invented the binary numerical system when they learned to multiply?

[@michaelbayer5094]

You proved the multiplication method using Arabic numerals, but how did the concept originate?

[@FriendlyMarmot]

@@michaelbayer5094 That's a great question! I wish I knew! Fascinating topic for another video by someone, if they can find out. :)

[@michaelbayer5094]

@@FriendlyMarmot I'm not a Math person at all. Way over my head, but I'd love to see it explained and that history too.

[@jamesgulapa7219]

Thanks for the explanation... my nose is now bleeding...

[@Bobalicious]

I enjoy the brevity of your videos.

[@pancratius602]

Welp... You just answered the question I had for years: Why in Gregorian chant, when the Kyrie is repeated it says «iij.» rather than just «iii.»

[@redvorno]

Litteraly everyone: James Bissonet Nobody: Izzy?

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Danny Maloney.

[@amritbarn26]

What bout ya boi spinning 3 plates

[@bernardoabreu4605]

A man of culture!

[@hall511]

Moe

[@smaguy64]

David Silverman

[@awildfilingcabinet6239]

History matters: "I'm going to get yelled at for calling them Arabic aren't I?" The entire comment section: "James Bizonnette"

[@agoodusername3647]

James bizonnette

[@UntrainableWizard]

You ever have your brain completely reject 1 seconds worth of information? I watched that Roman Numeral's math 3 times, and it still does not even slightly begin to register in my head.

[@stevoyd]

I know I watched this video, but I feel like my eyes glazed over at all the Roman numerals everywhere. The maths bit for 13*13 just blew my mind.

[@byzantineboi8345]

ROME GOOD everything else bad Oh Justinian’s dream could never be realized

[@Daniel-yc2ur]

Byzantine Boi I wonder would of happened if the Greek and Roman golden age lasted forever

[@markhenley3097]

@@Daniel-yc2ur No Islam.

[@CoffeeSnep]

@@Daniel-yc2ur there was a Star Trek episode about that. They had legionarres wearing Lorica segmentata but wielding submachine guns and hosting reality TV. It was pretty good

[@comradekenobi6908]

@@markhenley3097 no colonialism?

[@biliminsrlar5752]

@@comradekenobi6908 and no communism.

[@BradyPostma]

2:30 - As a math nerd, I loved learning this archaic technique!

[@ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx]

Careful not to delve into the deeper occult with that knowledge

[@BradyPostma]

I already know how to use a slide rule, how to calculate square roots with a paper and pen, and I'm reading Eculid's _The Elements of Geometery._ How more occult does mathematical anachronism get?

[@ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx]

@@BradyPostma What are you saying? are you casting a spell on me? the foreman shall hear of this and light you up on fire

[@BradyPostma]

@@ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx Chop them up, mash them, stick 'em in a stew.

[@stevenredpath9332]

Thanks for that. I hadn’t realised Roman numerals were used for that long.

[@peterpan3022]

0:33 man i cant, this channel is gold lmao

[@Doogie2K3]

"I'm gonna get yelled at for calling them Arabic numerals, aren't I?" I mean, you *did* clarify that the Arabs adopted them from India, right off the hop. Not much more to be done than that without confusing people.

[@xenobladesrg7729]

This is what it look in Indian numeral

[@vanshkejriwal4823]

@Fady Al qaisy bro I know the Hindu numbers and no we don't write it like 5141 or some sh*t.

[@mg1721]

@Fady Al qaisy 0-0, 1-१, 2-२,3-३, 4-४, 5-५, 6-६, 7-७, 8-८, 9-९, 10-१० This is how we write the hindu numerals, the number 2,3,6,9,10 look similar. But the appearance of the numeral do not matter. Also we don't write 51 as 11 34 21, we write it as ५१. So please kindly stop pulling statements out of your ass and presenting them as facts. The Hindus made contributions to the study of trigonometry, algebra, arithmetic, calculus and negative numbers among other things, do you think that would have been possible with the hindu system you are talking about?

[@Ashishsingh-no6hm]

@Fady Al qaisy 😂😂😂mad or what ??? Hindu number are highly identical to hindu arabic numbers..There is a slight difference between hindu numbers and hindu-arabic numbers

[@ahbabmuttaki1856]

I hardly believe that those weren't taken from India.Since arabs were already advanced before the roman "empire".But that's just my theory

[@merrittanimation7721]

Arab World: "7" Europe: "D:"

[@realhawaii5o]

? D is 500

[@dr.weedington2305]

@@realhawaii5o that's supposed to be a face I think

[@sowhat249]

@@raygiovanno8657 | *surprised Pikachu face

[@ArkadiBolschek]

More like "O:" actually

[@muntadar1655]

@@realhawaii5o bruh it's a text emoji

[@eyuelworku5744]

I laughed so hard at this 0:34 This channel is a gem

[@benabaxter]

Seeing the multiplication work actually makes a lot of sense.

[@dumigamez397]

Woah you are magical.

[@rockstar450]

I watch your videos multiple times and each time I uncover subtle jokes. You clearly put hours into seconds of content. Thank you!

[@pillarnexustheancientgladiator]

It's one of those inventions we use a lot that makes things so much easier, yet hardly anyone talks about it because we've gotten to used to it for so long.

[@RobDPenn]

0:35 may be the funniest section of any video he's produced lol

[@petefluffy7420]

Used to record numbers. It is a great time saving method when compared to spelling the words out.

[@al-dimashqi]

While the Arabs use the Indian numerals

[@AchiragChiragg]

@@islamisthetruth3402 lol what?

[@fungaiinthecar2233]

@@islamisthetruth3402 Humans like to make life weird and hard

[@al-dimashqi]

@@neemapaxima6116 perhaps these numbers are used in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, but in the Arab countries it's: ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩ ١٠

[@neemapaxima6116]

@@al-dimashqiCorrect, ۴، ۵ and ۶ are different

[@comradekenobi6908]

They developed it, just search it

[@unconqueredsun6903]

I just love that "And hence why we got rid of them".

[@CitrusThings]

I always wait for the "spinning 3 plates" at the end

[@morekozhambu]

zero, numbers, decimal place value system, positive and negative numbers, algebra, geometric analysis of equations, trigonometric formulae, infinite series, differntial equations etc., etc.

[@scholaroftheworldalternatehist]

I loved History Matters so much that I decided to create a similar themed alternate-history channel! Thanks for the inspiration!

[@sjwarialaw8155]

Good luck!

[@adjam1991]

I've made it my latest goal to perfect multiplying Roman numerals. Never know when it'll be useful.

[@Rine910]

How is your progress?

[@SYMQ8]

Yoo have perfected it?

[@SilverReviews]

It will never be useful lol

[@hassanabdulahi4705]

I guess you didn’t learn it because it’ll never be useful unless you have a time machine.

[@barleyeducated8714]

Easy, peasy, Step 1. translate the numbers into arabic. Step 2. do the math Step 3. translate back to roman. :P

[@Lelouchxzero1]

I never knew you could do multiplication that way, that doesn't seem like a terrible way to learn it (without the roman numerals)

[@blueblack3591]

such an interesting perspective i never thaught about

[@forwardslash1486]

I remember joining a right wing english group on facebook and posting that the uk government are looking to implement arabic numbers into it's education system. The rage that followed was very entertaining.

[@AJ-ho1jv]

Lamo I bet that was fun

[@joncarlosmjs4502]

😂😂😂😂

[@yusufn7467]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@RealUlrichLeland]

that's class mate 😂

[@RealUlrichLeland]

@@sceafa8370 cope

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

One of your most interesting topics, yet! Thank you!

[@hugeiftrue4224]

@HistoryMatters Can I ask why Eastern Europe and ancient Asia Minor, (or at the very least, Greece) was not being included in the map of the ‘Western World’? I would love to hear an academic response to this.

[@mnm1273]

It is eastern europe.

[@sydhenderson6753]

I had never wondered what Eastern Europe used for numerals till you told me, so I learned something today that never occurred to me.