<b>Technology<b>

By the late Middle Ages, science in Europe had caught up with the ancients and
passed them by. The technology that interested the people was practical, not
theoretical. They sought better ways to do things, both to make life more
comfortable and to improve business. They were interested in understanding the
natural world because they had increasingly more leisure time for contemplation.

The rudiments of mathematics and science were acquired from the Muslims of the
Iberian Peninsula and Sicily when Christians retook those areas. The Muslims had
been actively studying the ancients and new ideas from Asia since the early Middle
Ages. The Muslims passed on the Arabic numerals used today and the concept of the
zero, invented in India.

Practical research began challenging logic in the quest to understand the laws of
nature. The value of observation, experimentation, and empirical (countable)
evidence as support and proof of theory was recognized. This led to the scientific
method of the later Renaissance, which is the basis for all modern scientific
research. Ancient Greeks had suggested the scientific method, but it fell out of
favor and had been forgotten.