"Arithmetic... teaches all the various operations of numbers and demonstrates their properties. ...The Greeks are said have received it from the Phoenicians. The ancients, who have treated arithmetic most exactness, are Euclid, Nicomachus of Alexandria, and . It was difficult either for the Greeks or the Romans to succeed much in arithmetic, as both used only letters of the alphabet for numbers, the multiplication of which, in great calculations, necessarily occasioned abundance of trouble. The Arabic ciphers... are infinitely more commodious, and have contributed very much to the improvement of arithmetic."