Quote:
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It is impossible today to imagine a world without what are known as Hindu-Arabic numerals. These nine symbols or digits (1 to 9) and zero (0) – crucially, together with the system of arranging them in place value – are at the very heart of so much of modern life. Without them there would be no computers and no space travel. Indeed, there would be precious little science, technology or medicine of any kind, to say nothing of mathematics itself.
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Give credit where credit's due, but little doubt the BBC would not raise a question against it. They are really into the atheistic, humanist mindset where pre-modernity is viewed as ''ignorant and superstitious'', even when technological progress occurred. Whilst the BBC appears to be descriptive here, they can't really shake of their bias. It's subtle but noticeable (''there would be precious little science'' is a matter of perspective and ''precious little'' smacks of a normative statement). If you were to ask for more information, it would become even more obvious.