Text: From Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,57902+1+56491,00.html The early Egyptians used a base-10 system that had a different symbol for each power of 10 up to 106, but it lacked a place-value notation and an explicit number zero. Similar systems were used by the ancient Chinese, Cretans, Greeks, Hebrews, and Romans. On the other hand, the Babylonian system was an incomplete sexagesimal (base-60) positional notation. It used only two symbols instead of the 60 distinct ones that a base-60 system could use, and thus suffered from ambiguities in representing value that could be resolved only by analyzing the context. The Mayan system was nominally vigesimal (based on 20), but to conform to their 360-day calendar it was modified so that successive positions had the values: 200 = 1, 201 = 20, 18 201 = 360, 18 202 = 7,200, 18 203 = 144,000, etc., rather than strict powers of 20 (200 = 1, 201 = 20, 202 = 400, 203 = 8,000, 204 = 160,000, . . . ). The use of zero as a numeral appeared sporadically in Egyptian number systems. It was used, however, only between two numbers to indicate an empty position, never at the end of a number. While the early Chinese did not have a symbol for zero, the invention and use of their abacus suggests that they had an implied appreciation for positional base notation and zero as a number. The Mayans did have a zero symbol, but their inconsistency in base notation rendered it virtually useless for computations. The first use of zero as a place holder in positional base notation was due probably to Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780-850). This use of zero and the use of western Arabic (Gobar) numerals were spread throughout Europe in the 10th century principally by the efforts of Gerbert, who later became Pope Sylvester II.

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