[gavinlit]

I'd add to John's mention of arabic 'numeracy' the central concept of 0 as a placeholder (not just a quantity). Oh and there is algebra (roughly translated as 'the science of restoration and balancing), which is a bastardized english version of an arabic word that dosn't come to mind. Oh, and there is the matter of some of the most significant mathematical texts only coming to the surface during the enlightenment due to their being translated and safely kept in the middle east while librarys in Europe and Egypt were being burnt (Including the only surviving 6 of 13 volumes of 'Arithmetica'). The estimate of the lost seven volumes of Arithmetica (by Diophantus) runs to a couple of centuries of mathematical knowledge by most scholars. The masterstroke of destruction was delivered by the Christian emperor Theodosius who ordered the destruction of all pagan icons and altars. So this one christian essentially cost mankind a couple of hundred years of mathematics. Pretty good for a white European christian fella huh?