The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals

This is, above all, a social and economic history of practical arithmetic rather than a history of the profound changes brought about by Indo-Arabic numerals in European intellectual history…Readers will find in it a broad overview of the fascinating story it seeks to recount, together with detailed insights into some of the relevant documents and agents that formed part of it. – José María Pérez Fernández * Intellectual History Review *
In this landmark study, Danna demonstrates the profound implications of the adoption and diffusion of Indo-Arabic numerals across Europe. Tracing how the ten figures impacted the evolution of practical mathematics, he illuminates the far-reaching consequences for the growth of commerce and manufacturing. Meticulously researched and documented, this book will change the way we think about the history of the growth of useful knowledge. A must-read for any scholar interested in the origins of the European Miracle. – Joel Mokyr, Nobel Prize–winning author of A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy
A profoundly intelligent book. Danna is not content simply to describe the shift from Roman to Indo-Arabic numerals; he delves deeply into the cognitive and symbolic revolution it represented. This is a rare work that takes the intellectual substance of a practical craft seriously, revealing how a new way of calculating became a new way of thinking. – Sheilagh Ogilvie, author of The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis
This important work exemplifies the history of knowledge at its finest, combining the social history of mathematics with broader themes in economic and technological history. Using quantitative analysis alongside detailed case studies, Raffaele Danna illuminates the multifaceted influence of mathematical practitioners in early modern societies. – Thomas Morel, author of Underground Mathematics: Craft Culture and Knowledge Production in Early Modern Europe
A powerful account of how practical mathematics became intertwined with the growth of ​late medieval and early modern capitalism in Europe. Marshaling a vast array of evidence, Raffaele Danna shows how Indo-Arabic numerals gradually spread across the continent and became far more than mere tools for calculation. The result is an extraordinary history of how Europeans first came to use the numbers and mathematics that we rely on today. – Patrick Wallis, author of The Market for Skill: Apprenticeship and Economic Growth in Early Modern England
An important and original contribution. Drawing on more than 1,200 arithmetic manuals written for ordinary users, Raffaele Danna shows how Indo-Arabic numerals spread across Europe through networks of practitioners, revolutionizing first commerce and then elite mathematics. – Morgan Kelly, Professor of Economics at University College Dublin

Raffaele Danna is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Economics of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies. Previously, he held a Max Weber Fellowship in the Department of History at the European University Institute.

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