Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Tue 17 Jul 2007 01:00 AM PDT
Naomi Canton, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Mumbai, July 05, 2007
First Published: 03:22 IST(5/7/2007)
Last Updated: 03:25 IST(5/7/2007)
Oxford prof documents India's math contribution
https://www.hindustantimes.com
Indians'
contribution to the development of mathematics has largely been swept
under the carpet in global history books. But a BBC crew, led by an
Oxford professor, was in the country last week to film a documentary
revealing Indians created some of the most fundamental mathematical
theories.
The West has always believed that Sir Isaac Newton, famous for
developing the laws of gravity and motion, was the brainbox behind key
branches of maths such as calculus.
In The Story of Maths, Dr
Marcus Du Sautoy, a professor of mathematics at the University of
Oxford, claims Indians made many of these breakthroughs before Newton
was born.
The Story of Maths, a four-part series, will be screened on
BBC Four in 2008. The first part looks at the development of maths in
ancient Greece, ancient Egypt and Babylon; the second focuses on India,
China and Central Asia and the rest look at how maths developed in the
West. The India reel focuses on how several Indians developed theories
in maths that were later discovered by Westerners who took credit for
them.
"A lot of people think maths was a Western invention," said Du
Sautoy. "This programme is about how a lot of things were done here in
India before they were discovered in the West. So the programme is in
fact quite political because it shows how much we have ignored
discoveries in the East," he said. Du Sautoy's team of a director, a
cameraman and a researcher left Mumbai on Monday.
In
India, the team filmed on trains, inside sari stores, on the backwaters
of Kerala and in rickshaws. "It's been fantastic filming in India as
the visual backdrop is so rich," Du Sautoy said.
Aryabhatta
(476–550 AD), who calculated pi, and Brahmagupta (598-670 AD) feature
in the film, which also showcases a Gwalior temple, which documents the
first inscription of 'zero'.
"One of the biggest inventions in India was the number zero.
Indians used it long before the West did," said Du Sautoy. "When the
West had Roman numerals there was no zero and that is why they were so
clumsy. On the other hand, Brahmagupta was one of the key
mathematicians in the world because he invented the idea of zero."
The documentary also features the history of Kerala-born
mathematician Madhava (1350-1425) who created calculus 300 years before
Newton and German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz did, said Du Sautoy.
"We learn that Newton invented the mathematical theory calculus in the
17th century but Madhava created it earlier," Du Sautoy said.
Chennai-born Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) also features in
the film. "He developed a lot of his own maths. He contacted English
mathematician G.H. Hardy, who persuaded him to come to Cambridge. They
began a collaboration between the analytical maths of the West and the
intuitive maths of India, and together produced brilliant theories and
amazing results."
It was difficult for Ramanujan to travel to Britain because
he was a Brahmin and not allowed to travel by sea. "He had to almost
give up his religion but maths was also like a religion to him. He had
no one to talk to in India because at that time no one was interested
in his ideas," said Du Sautoy.
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