There are other works too that are dependable for the
general outline. Apart from Gordon Childe (only for the ancient world), the
Penguin collection The Treasury of Mathematics (1965, 1968) introductories:
H. Midonick and revision: Minetta and Reginald Vesselo and the Indian
collection under Debiprasad Chattopadhyay are not bad for general outline – the
latter for the Indian development. The historical sketches that came to my
notice are not always free from inaccuracies but, so far as they pertain to
non-essential detail, the sketches are good for the general outline.
Best
DB
From: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk@GMAIL.COM>
To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk
Sent: Monday, 5 December 2011 9:07 PM
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Fw: [INDOLOGY] The decimal system
There is a substantial specialist literature on the history of numerals, from Smith and Karpinski
(1911) and Florian Cajori (1929) through to Georges Ifrah, Victor Katz and Charles Burnett (2006). Some of this has been mentioned in this forum before, I believe. It would be best to refer to that literature before posting further notes on the topic. The most pertinent parts of this literature for India have been cited and discussed by Kim Plofker in her 2009 book Mathematics in India, especially chapter 3.
Best,
--
Dr Dominik Wujastyk