<P> The first mentions of the numerals in the West are found in the Codex Vigilanus of 976 . </P> <P> From the 980s, Gerbert of Aurillac (later, Pope Sylvester II) used his position to spread knowledge of the numerals in Europe . Gerbert studied in Barcelona in his youth . He was known to have requested mathematical treatises concerning the astrolabe from Lupitus of Barcelona after he had returned to France . </P> <P> Leonardo Fibonacci (Leonardo of Pisa), a mathematician born in the Republic of Pisa who had studied in Béjaïa (Bougie), Algeria, promoted the Indian numeral system in Europe with his 1202 book Liber Abaci: </P> <P> When my father, who had been appointed by his country as public notary in the customs at Bugia acting for the Pisan merchants going there, was in charge, he summoned me to him while I was still a child, and having an eye to usefulness and future convenience, desired me to stay there and receive instruction in the school of accounting . There, when I had been introduced to the art of the Indians' nine symbols through remarkable teaching, knowledge of the art very soon pleased me above all else and I came to understand it . </P>

Where did our current number system and the concept of zero come from