Fibonacci and the Fibonacci Story

From the references in the preceding chapter to analogues in earlier sources it is obvious that abbacus mathematics had roots in preceding mathematical cultures. Since Italian traders had direct interaction with neither Indian nor Chinese mathematics, the most important inspiration must have come from the Arabic world. There are admittedly some borrowings from Latin post-agrimensor geometry, and also some influence from the Byzantine world, to which we shall return; but the overarching importance of the Arabic influence is obvious already from the first part of the standard curriculum of the abbacus school: the teaching of the Hindu-Arabic numerals and their use.