the.com/decimal
the most useful dot in human history, separating order from chaos one place at a time
means Relating to a number system based on ten, or to the dot that marks where whole numbers end and fractions begin.
from From Latin decimus, 'tenth,' built on decem, 'ten' — the same root that gives us December (once the tenth month) and decimate (literally to kill every tenth man). It reached English in the 1600s through the Latin phrase numerus decimalis, 'number proceeding by tens,' as European mathematicians worked out how to write fractions in the same tidy base-ten columns as whole numbers. Decem itself is an ancient inheritance, a cousin of Greek deka and likely a relic of counting on ten fingers.
- name origin
- From Latin decimus, meaning tenth
- point vs comma
- Half the world uses a comma instead
- ancient roots
- Indian and Arab mathematicians refined it centuries ago
- infinite tail
- One-third becomes 0.333 forever, never quite settling
- banker's nightmare
- 0.1 plus 0.2 confuses most computers
decimal point — introduced by al-khwarizmi in 9th century baghdad, revolutionized mathematical notation
decimal system — base-10 positional notation adopted globally, originated in india around 500 ce