Where did Arabic numerals come from and how did people count them before they were invented?

Arabic numerals were first invented by ancient Indians, then spread to Europe by Arabs, and then modernized by Europeans. People think they were invented by Arabs, so people call them "Arabic numerals".

Before the invention of Arabic numerals, the ancient Chinese used the tool of "calculation preparation" in the calculation process. "Counting chips" are some symmetrical sticks made of wood and bamboo. The ancient people in China arranged these sticks vertically and horizontally, so they could represent any natural number.

Extended data:

Astronomer Ayepihite made a new breakthrough in simplifying numbers: he recorded the numbers with a grid. If there is a symbol in the first grid, such as a point representing 1, then the same point in the second grid represents ten, and the point in the third grid represents one hundred.

In this way, not only the digital symbols themselves, but also their position order is of great significance. Later, Indian scholars introduced the symbol zero. It can be said that these symbols and representations are the old ancestors of Arabic numerals.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Arabic numerals