In close relationship with ancient Sumeria, the so-called Indus culture developed in northwest India, which in 2. millennium BC. Chr. merged with the ancient culture of the immigrated Aryans. The mathematics of the Indians was mainly in the service of astronomy and was carried out by priests. your greatest achievement, which contributed significantly to the further development of mathematics, was the invention of numerals, which we call "Arabic" numbers. A temple inscription at Gwalior from 870 n. Chr. also shows zero as a digit for the first time. (In the old days, among the Babylonians and Greeks, one actually only had gap marks, which was very difficult to reckon with.) The earliest null sign of the Indians was a period (•); later it became a small circle (O) and finally the zero (0), as we know them today. The Indian word for zero, silence, also means "empty".
The Indians developed great mathematical knowledge and could do difficult calculations with very large numbers. The Arabs, who traded with them, adopted the numerals of the Indians in the ninth century. At that time, the Arabs ruled the Middle East, North Africa and a large part of Spain. Arab traders and doctors and later the Crusades contributed to this, that the mathematics and the numerals of the Arabs, who came from the Indians, got to Europe. At the beginning of 15. By the end of the 19th century, Arabic numerals were used in schools and by merchants all over Europe.
With modern numerals and the rediscovery of Greek geometry and algebra, mathematics made great strides. The new mathematics contributed significantly to this, that in Europe the dark Middle Ages ended and the age of discoveries began.