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Fibonacci brings Arab numbers to Europe

Leonardi Fibonacci, or Leonardo of Pisa, was an Italian mathematician from a wealthy merchant family, who popularised the Hindu-​​Arab numeral system in Europe through his book Liber abaci or Book of Calculation, a treatise on calculus. At the time, the western world was still using Roman numerals.

The introduction of the Hindu-​​Arabic system helped to boost the credit market as it simplified the calculation of interest payments. Fibonacci's works, including the famous « Fibonacci sequence », are still used today in market finance.