Mathematics was taught distinctly in Italy and Germany during the fifteenth century
the verdict
REFUTED
the evidence says no
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
0 sources for · 1 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Retrieved evidence refutes the claim by showing that the purported story about merchants needing to travel to Italy for advanced mathematics is not a real historical occurrence, but rather an illustrative description likely invented in the 1930s.
# Teaching of Mathematics in Italy and in Germany in the fifteenth century
Tags: germany, italy, 15th-century, mathematics
- Score: 7
- Views: 826
- Answers: 2
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: José Carlos Santos (4620 rep)
- Asked: 2018-12-18
- Edited: 2021-08-14
- Site: history
## Question
In is book Beyond numeracy, John Allen Paulos tells this story:
A German merchant of the fifteenth century asked an eminent professor where he should send his son for a good business education. The professor responded that German universities would be sufficient to teach the boy addition and subtraction but he would have to go to Italy to learn multiplication and division. Before you smile indulgently, try multiplying or even just adding the Roman numerals CCLXIV, MDCCCIX, DCL, and MLXXXI without first translating them.
Paulos provides no source for this. Does anyone know whether this is real or not? And, if it is indeed real, who is this “eminent professor”?
## Answers
### Answer by LаngLаngС (score: 10 [ACCEPTED])
tl;dr
This is not a real story but an illustrative description, probably invented in the 1930s.
The first Indo-Arabian numerals came to Europe in the 10th century. They had a ha