subject: Indian Mathematics And Its World Wide Influence [print this page] Our everyday life is related to thisOur everyday life is related to this. We cant even imagine our life without this. Thats because its not only a subject, but more than that. We may not recognize its importance, but its everywhere. The world knows the subject best as Mathematics. Right from counting the hours in time to counting money, everything involves mathematics. In the early civilization, mathematics began as a concept of counting with the use of numbers. Numbers in very early societies were typically represented by groups of lines, though later different numbers came to be assigned specific numeral names and symbols or were designated by alphabetic letters. The early recorded history of mathematics can be traced back to 2000 BC in Babylonia. Earlier a place value notation number system had developed over a lengthy period with a number base of 60. This system was called the sexagesimal system. It allowed a large quantity of numbers and fractions to be represented arbitrarily and proved to be the foundation for advanced mathematical development. The Babylonian basis of mathematics was inherited by the Greeks and they independently developed it in the year 450 BC. We now follow a decimal system.
In India, the decimal system was prevalent during the Harappa civilization. The weight and measurement system was prevalent in Harappa. This Civilization was known for its accuracy in weights and measures. Weights corresponding to ratios of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 have been identified, as having scales with decimal divisions. A bronze rod marked in units of 0.367 inches points to the degree of precision were much in demand in those times. Such scales were particularly important in ensuring proper implementation of town planning rules that required roads of fixed widths to run at right angles to each other, for drains to be constructed of precise measurements, and for homes to be constructed according to specified guidelines. Even in the Vedic texts, the records of mathematical functions are found and these had a close connection to the rituals performed in the Vedic period. Early mathematical developments in India mirrored the developments in Egypt, Babylon and China. The examples of arithmetical equations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, squares, cubes and roots can be found in the Narad Vishnu Purana attributed to Ved Vyas.
Though the Chinese also used the decimal system, they lacked the formal notational system. On the contrary, Indian notational system had abstraction and elegance and had reached the western world through the Arabs and has now been accepted as universal. Once a French Mathematician had commented, The ingenious method of expressing every possible number using a set of ten symbols (each symbol having a place value and an absolute value) emerged in India. The idea seems so simple nowadays that its significance and profound importance is no longer appreciated. Its simplicity lies in the way it facilitated calculation and placed arithmetic foremost amongst useful inventions. Even today, Indian Mathematicians like Panini, Jagadish Bose, and C.V. Raman are world famous for their mathematical theories and equations. In Indian Philosophy, one can notice a close coordination between the mathematical equation and the philosophical thoughts.
