In the west, it is generally believed that decimals were invented by Belgian mathematician Steven. But German mathematician kravis was the first person to use the decimal point in the modern sense. He used the decimal point in 1593. But until the end of 19, the decimal notation was still very confusing. Even in modern times, scoring can be divided into two ways: continental school and Anglo-American school. The former uses commas, while the latter insists on using dots.

In fact, before Steven invented the decimal point, China, India and Central Asia had already used decimal fractions, that is, decimals.

In the 3rd century A.D., the idea of decimal was used in Liu Hui's Notes on Nine Chapters of Arithmetic in Wei and Jin Dynasties. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the following notation was widely used in calendars:

One hundred and eighteen thousand two hundred and ninety-six yuan and twenty-five cents (1 18296.25)

893 (83.9)

White192 (119.438+02)

This writing is almost the same as decimal notation 2.5 or 2,5, which was still popular in the west until the19th century.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were the following comments:

(324506.25, 1247)

(0.25, 1247)

(-0.5, 1248)

These symbols are much better than Steven's symbols more than 300 years later.

Alkasi in Central Asia is the first country in the world to use decimals except China.

His usage is embodied in his book Keys to Arithmetic (1427).

Whether in the East or the West, the understanding of decimals has evolved over several years or even thousands of years.