Abstract

1. There can be no doubt as to the fact that the natural numbers of the ancients were numbers having neither a positive nor a negative sign. We find it necessary to insist upon the recognition of this truth, because articles and books on the history of elementary mathematics yield much information on how the notion of negative numbers gradually arose, but it is impossible to find any indication as to how the notion of positive numbers came about, and also as to the role that was played by numbers without signs in the history of mathematics