Page "Pope Sylvester II" Paragraph 12

Gerbert learned of Hindu – Arabic digits and applied this knowledge to the abacus, but according to Charles Seife without the numeral of zero.

According to William of Malmesbury ( c. 1080 – c.

1143 ), Gerbert got the idea of the computing device of the abacus from a Spanish Arab.

The abacus that Gerbert reintroduced into Europe had its length divided into 27 parts with 9 number symbols ( this would exclude zero, which was represented by an empty column ) and 1, 000 characters in all, crafted out of animal horn by a shieldmaker of Rheims.

According to his pupil Richer, Gerbert could perform speedy calculations with his abacus that were extremely difficult for people in his day to think through in using only Roman numerals.

Due to Gerbert's reintroduction, the abacus became widely used in Europe once again during the 11th century.