From East to West

            The east, a place where the sun rises, contributes to great evolution of modern mathematics. The second episode of the story of maths focused on the contribution of the eastern civilizations in the world of mathematics. Like the first episode, it gave us some information about the history of math. I find the documentary this time more interesting than the previous one.

            The Chinese civilization, a society rich in culture, is also a society that contributes in the mathematical world. Before I watched the documentary, the only thing that I can relate to mathematics in their society was the Abacus. After watching it, it gave me a new perspective. It was interesting how the Chinese applied mathematics in their culture.  They used symbols as numbers and decimal place value system. They also contribute to the first concept of cubic equations and more importantly the development of the solving equations that makes our life with mathematics complicated yet exciting. There were some topics about the Chinese mathematical contributions that attract my attention. An example of this was the magic square. If there is one thing that my father influenced me, it is how to play sudoku. Magic square is called the early sudoku and I really did not expect that the Chinese were the ones who developed the concept.  Another thing that attracts my attention was how the emperor able to sleep with 121 women within 15 days with the help of the astronomers, also known as mathematicians in this period.  It was remarkable how the Chinese belief in the cosmic or mystical significance of numbers was still applied by the Chinese nowadays.

            The Indians were the society that greatly affects the mathematics of the modern days. They also used the decimal place value system because they were influenced by the Chinese merchants. They were the one who introduced the concept of zero. The concept of zero in their number system was influenced by their culture about the nothingness. They believed that the universe is born from nothingness. They also determined the properties of zero such as one divided to zero is equal to infinity.  The Indians also developed the concept of negative numbers.  They were responsible for the development of trigonometry and algebra are use mainly in architecture and engineering. During the early times, the concept of trigonometry was mainly used by Indians to study the universe and stars.  They were also the ones responsible of the development of the Hindu-Arabic numerals that is now used as the universal number system in mathematics.

            The movie gave us the information that the people in the east where the ones who first developed the different main concepts of mathematics. But sadly to say, most of the acknowledgements and appreciations were given to the people of the west.