Decimal and, only the best mathematicians were able to multiply or divide large numbers. These difficulties were completely solved with the introduction of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system for representing integers. This system has been extended to represent some non-integer numbers, called "decimal fractions" or "decimal numbers" for forming the "decimal numeral system". For writing numbers, the decimal system uses ten decimal digits, a decimal mark, and, for negative numbers, a minus sign "−". The decimal digits are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; the decimal separator is the dot "" in many countries (including English speaking ones),
Decimal separator international blueprints. However, English-speaking countries took the comma to separate sequences of three digits. In some countries, a raised dot or dash ("") may be used for grouping or decimal separator; this is particularly common in handwriting. In the United States, the full stop or period (.) was used as the standard decimal separator. In the nations of the British Empire, although the full stop could be used in typewritten material and its use was not banned, the interpunct (also known as the decimal point, point, or mid dot) was preferred for the decimal separator in printing technologies that could