The Tale of Leonardo Bonacci and his Introduction of Roman Numerals
The Tale of Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci and his Introduction of Roman Numerals Did you know that it was through the works of Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci that the Roman Numeral System replaced the then commonly used Roman Numeral System? He was responsible for the square root notation and the bar that is used by fractions today. But who was Fibonacci? Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician, number theorist and author. In fact he was arguably ‘the most talented Western mathematician of the middle ages’. Born in Pisa, educated in North Africa and having studied mathematics in Bugia (Algeria) Fibonacci travelled around the Mediterranean coast, meeting with many merchants and learning about their systems of doing arithmetic. Through his education and conversation, he realised the superiority of the Hindu-Arabic system which included the utilisation of zeros and a place-value system (decimals) which the Roman numerals lacked. In fact, doing arithmetic through Roman numerals typically include