Arabic numerals milestone in the development of mathematics. One may distinguish between this positional "system", which is identical throughout the family, and the precise glyphs used to write the numerals, which varied regionally. The first universally accepted inscription containing the use of the 0 glyph in India is first recorded in the 9th century, in an inscription at Gwalior in Central India dated to 870. Numerous Indian documents on copper plates exist, with the same symbol for zero in them, dated back as far as the 6th century AD, but their dates are uncertain. Inscriptions in Indonesia and Cambodia dating to AD
Japanese numerals , ). The Arabic numerals are more often used in horizontal writing, and the Chinese numerals are more common in vertical writing. Most numbers have two readings, one derived from Chinese used for cardinal numbers (On reading) and a native Japanese reading used somewhat less formally for numbers up to 10. In some cases (listed below) the Japanese reading is generally preferred for all uses. <nowiki>*</nowiki> The special reading 〇 "maru" (which means "round" or "circle") is also found. It may be optionally used when reading individual digits of a number one after another, instead of as a full number.