Stevin Research Articles

La Disme of Simon Stevin—The First Book on Decimals

The history of the decimal fraction has two distinct sections: the evolution of the idea of decimals, and the evolution of a convenient symbolism. The idea might, indeed, be traced to the very beginning of the place-value of the Arabic notation. The symbolism has not been standardized today, as witness the English 3.14, the French 3,14 and our 3.14. Yet, strangely enough, the theory of operations with decimals appeared in complete form in the first work devoted wholly to the subject. La Disme (1585) by Simon Stevin of Bruges.