\begin{definition}[Definition:Decimal Expansion/Historical Note]
The idea of representing fractional values by extending the decimal notation to the right appears to have been invented by {{AuthorRef|Simon Stevin}}, who published the influential book {{BookLink|De Thiende|Simon Stevin}}.
The idea was borrowed from the Babylonian number system, but streamlined to base $10$ from the cumbersome sexagesimal.
However, his notation was cumbersome: he would write, for example, $25 \bigcirc \! \! \! \! \! \! 0 \ \, 3 \bigcirc \! \! \! \! \! \! 1 \ \, 7 \bigcirc \! \! \! \! \! \! 2 \ \, 9 \bigcirc \! \! \! \! \! \! 3$ for what we now give as $25 \cdotp 379$.
{{AuthorRef|John Napier}}, in the early $17$th century, appears to have been the first into print with the contemporary notation, although {{AuthorRef|Walter William Rouse Ball}} suggests that credit for this ought to be due to {{AuthorRef|Henry Briggs}}.
It was not until a century later, however, that the decimal point came into general use.
\end{definition}