17. During the Middle Ages, the people of Europe used the Roman numerals one through ten forbasic math such as adding and subtracting. However, the Roman system did not have a numberfor zero. That made adding and subtracting very hard. Three centuries earlier, Arabic people hadinvented another kind of numbering system, the one we use today, which had a zero. Thissystem was brought to Europe in the 12th century and quickly became popular. Today, Arabicnumbers are used universally in mathematics. _______________
(A)Consequently, both the Chinese numeral characters and the Roman numerals were replacedby Arabic numerals in mathematical writings.
(B) In contrast, Roman numerals are used only on clock faces—and in outlines!
(C) In this way Roman numerals were totally abandoned in favor of Arabic numerals.
(D) In some cases, they are the most common symbolic representation of numbers in the world.¯