In the on-going effort to realize the true heritage of India as opposed to the western media image here we have another amazing report on Hindu advancements in early yearsl

We are rightly proud of our forefathers who not only knew mathematics, but it were they who discovered Mathematics and established it as a science. They took the cue from the ten fingers of our hands and formed the sound 'Decimal' system of counting numbers, howsoever big and howsoever small in 'powers' of ten. Thus they counted:'ekam'(one),'dasham'(ten), 'shatam' (hundred), 'sahasra' (thousand), 'dash-sahasra', 'laksha', 'dasha-laksha' (million), 'koti', 'dasha-koti', 'abja' (billion), 'kharva', 'nikharva', 'padma' (trillion), 'mahapadma', 'shankhu', 'jaladhi', 'antya', 'madhya' and 'parardha' ( 1 with 18 zeros), which makes a billion billion. The concept of zero, which in Sanskrit has 'kha' (also meaning sky / void) as a synonym, is basically one of Indian origin, as can be seen from the fact that words for zero in European and other languages have a similar connotation as sky / void. Corresponding word in Arabic is 'as-sifr', in Latin 'cifra', in German 'ziffer', and in English 'cipher'/ 'zero'. The main idea of the numbering system is the 'place' value, that is 'carrying' a digit to the next higher order ( for instance from unit's place to ten's place, from tens place to hundred's place and so on) while making an addition. Though it looks so simple now, it was then a great mathematical concept, making all manipulations easy. What are known as 'Arabic' numerals are really Indian numerals. Arabs had trade contacts with ancient India and carried the numerical system from India. It then spread to Europe and to the world. In Arabic language the word for a number is 'hindsa', meaning 'of Indian origin'.

The story of how the Arabic (really Indian) numerals won triumphantly in the Roman Coliseum as described by Theoni Pappa is thrilling. The coliseum was buzzing to see the big game - The Roman Numerals versus Arabic Numerals. A Roman merchant set a challenge problem of adding LX111 + CLV111. The Arabic merchant Esab Net did the problem instantly, as 63 + 158 = 221 . The crowd was in an uproar. They could not believe their eyes. With each problem the Roman numbers seemed to be stumbling over each other. In a short time the Romans got hooked up to using Arabic numerals, either in their accounts or in every day use. Soon the Arabic numerals had worldwide usage.

Mathematics in India is as ancient as the Veda (containing 'Sulabha Sutras' and 'Taitteriya Sanhita'of 'Yajur-Veda') of thousands of years back. Later came several eminent mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Apastambha, Katyayana, Bhaskar1, Mahadeo, Bhaskara2, and others. Bharati Krishna Tirtha in his masterly treatise on Vedic Mathematics has given a lot of information on the subject. The ancients worked on finding out the value of 'pi' the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle. By putting it into a 'series' they gave the value accurate to several places of decimal. They did considerable work on prime numbers, that is the numbers having no factors. They established several theorems in Geometry, an important one being the relationship of the hypotenuse with the two legs of a right triangle (now known as 'Pythagorean Theorem'). This was long before the days of Pythagoras, who visited India and learnt several things from there. The ancient Indians used geometry for designing and planning the alters for carrying out 'yagnas' (holy sacrifices).

The ancients knew that earth advances in its orbit round the Sun by one degree a day. They made their calendar basically on the movements of the Moon round the Earth, because of its utility in knowing the timings of ebbs and tides, on which the life in those days so much depended. At the same time, they highly respected the Sun as the source of all energy and intelligence; by providing suitable periodic corrections, they made their calendar to fit in the solar years, which shows their mastery in astronomical science. They knew the diameters of the Earth and of the Sun, and that the latter was 108 times the former; they considered the Sun as god and prayers to the Sun are linked with the number 108. They knew that light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second and have mentioned it in the Veda thus "Yojananam sahasre dwe,dwe shate cha dwe yojane, eken nimishradhen kramamanah (1 yojana = 145/16 miles; 1 nimisha=16/75 seconds). How they acquired such knowledge remains a matter of great surprise. Bhaskara2, popularly known as Bhaskaracharya lived nine hundred years back has written books for learners in a simplistic interesting style. He made books brief because voluminous books he thought are difficult for average students to digest, and are superfluous for smart students. He named his book on Algebra as 'Leelavati', after his daughter's name. Actually he has written it the way he taught it to her. He mentions in the introduction that algebra is meant for such of the students who have difficulty in solving problems by purely arithmetical approach. Among some of the recent Indian mathematicians can be mentioned Shrinivas Ramanujam of the last century, and Dr Jayant Naralikar, who was a colleague of Hoyle, and who is leading astronomical research at the Pune University campus. We, people of Indian origin in the USA, and particularly the youngsters have a message that we have a great legacy of high ranking mastery in Mathematics. Let our youngsters take inspiration from the great Indian mathematicians, ancient and modern, and make a good career for themselves and reach academic excellence which will be a matter of pride for the Indian community.

And all our animal friends will be happy to hear about this news:

On October 3, 1998, the Boston Vegetarian Society will hold their 3rd Annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. For more information visit http://mit.edu/vsg/foodfest98/.