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A new [discovery / discover] has excited mathematicians around the globe. Recently-unearthed documents show a decimal point in the [recording / records] of a merchant named Giovanni Bianchini, who lived in Venice [on / in] the 1440s. Historians have [failed / hailed] the find as being significant, as it means the decimal point is 150 years older than was [previously / previous] thought. Bianchini was a keen [astronomer / astronomist] . He made many notations about his observances [off / of] the heavens. He also provided Venetians with horoscopes based [on / at] astrological calculations of the [arraignment / alignment] of stars and planets. Mathematician Dr Glen Van Brummelen noticed the use of a decimal point in one of Bianchini's [treats / treatises] from between 1441 and / to 1450.

Decimal points are such an [integrity / integral] part of life today that it [seems / seemingly] they would have been used for thousands of years. Historians say some [versions / visions] of decimals have existed for [higher / over] 1,000 years. Records show a form of the mathematical dot [being / been] used in the Islamic world in the 900s. It is [likely / likeable] that Bianchini travelled to the Middle East and was influenced by scholars there who were [quay / key] in forging many mathematical concepts. Other [historically / historical] evidence shows intellectuals using a form of the point in China in the 1200s. Before the recent discovery, the earliest known [definition / definitive] use of the decimal point was in 1593. Then, German mathematician Christopher Clavius used a [system / systemic] of decimals in his study of astronomy.