Question

1. one aspect of the commercial revolution was that the barter system of trade was replaced by a system based on money and credit. why were arabic numerals needed to make this system work?

arabic numerals could be written in bank books without filling up the page.
arabic numerals included the number 0, which does not appear in roman numerals.
arabic numerals allowed bankers to more easily calculate the interest on a loan.
arabic numerals were easier for everyone to learn and use in transactions.

Explanation:

The Commercial Revolution involved complex financial calculations like interest on loans. Arabic numerals, with their positional notation and the digit 0, made arithmetic operations (including calculating interest) more straightforward compared to Roman numerals (which lack 0 and are cumbersome for calculations). While other options have some merit (e.g., ease of learning, space - saving), the key advantage in a money - and - credit - based system (with its need for financial computations) is the ease of calculating interest.

Answer:

Arabic numerals allowed bankers to more easily calculate the interest on a loan.