Leonardo Fibonacci and Abbaco Culture. A Proposal to Invert the Roles
Since long it has been regarded as an obvious fact in need of no argument that the mathematics of the Italian abbacus school was taken over from Leonardo Fibonacci’s . What does look like an argument is that an abbacus book from the outgoing 13th century (apparently the earliest extant specimen) claims to be made “according to the opinion” of Fibonacci. Close analysis of the text reveals, however, that everything basic is independent of Fibonacci, while the indubitable borrowings from the are sophisticated...