Fibonacci publishes Liber Abaci
1202
A Pisan merchant's son who had learned arithmetic in North Africa laid out Hindu-Arabic numerals for Latin Europe. Among his worked examples was an idle puzzle about breeding rabbits whose answer unfolded a sequence that would haunt mathematics for the next eight hundred years. The book's practical chapters on currency conversion and profit calculation transformed Italian commercial bookkeeping overnight.
In context
Also in 1202 (3 other events on record)
- Anasazi begin cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde · North America · Culture
- Crusaders sack Christian Zara for Venice · Europe · War
- Champagne fairs at their medieval peak · Europe · Culture
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Science
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources