The Early Birds of the East

The ancient mathematics of the east has greatly influenced the Western concepts of math. Mathematical breakthroughs and modernity had started from the geniuses of China, India, Mesopotamia and others. Practical problems have mainly influenced the Asians to use numbers and shapes for solving. It seemed likely for me that the Asians have been the lead in mathematical breakthroughs. Most of the first civilizations were in fact all from the Asian continent. So, mathematics advancements may be first in Asia.

                It may not be the first, but the Chinese concept of counting was the exact basis of the counting system of today. Chinese used natural objects such as sticks and stones to produce numerals and other symbols for tens, hundreds, and so on. Well, it is the first mathematical concept we had to understand when we were young. When I was 3 years old, I had to use figures such as Lego blocks to know how many are there in a structure I had built. Men of China were so fond of math that they had perfected buildings such as the Great Wall of China.

                One interesting thing I had observed on the Chinese system is that they use numbers for culture and belief. For example, the number 8 is for good fortune while number 4 has to be avoided as much as possible, odd numbers are for men while even are for women, and more. According to the film, he yellow emperor these numbers have cosmic importance. I was somehow amazed with the famous Chinese Magic Square-the square where the numbers 1-9 were specifically arranged and the sum of each rows, column and diagonals equal to 15. I tried to think why that was possible and why the specific arrangement was the only one. Later on, I gave up. They are real geniuses.

                Chinese merchants had trades on all parts of the world. India was one of those places. I was also the Chinese who had influenced mathematics to the Indians. However, Indians also have their own way of working with numbers and geometry. They had started the concept of Zero, Infinity and trigonometry. All of which are very important to the mathematics of today.

                “The Universe was from nothing, and humans come from nothing”. This was not really the exact words from the film, but you get the idea. Zero is a space-filler and it helped us understand mathematics more. I wasn't aware that the Chinese hadn't used zero until the narrator said that zero started in India. It was weird how the Chinese managed math without zero. It must have been hard. Then, there goes the concept of infinity. It was by the division of 1 by 0. I didn't exactly know why.  But, what else would be the quotient?

                Indians were also astronomers. And as astronomers, they had to measure he stars and the galaxies by its distance and magnitude. Thus, they had intelligently used Trigonometry and right angles to roughly measure the distance between to heavenly bodies. If I were to produce an analysis like that, I should have won the Nobel Prize.

                I can’t say much of the Islamic mathematics, yet I can tell that they had a clean merge of religion and knowledge. According to the Qu’ran, “Learning is nothing less but a requirement of God”. The use of mathematics is for calculating time of prayer, human forms and more. Their walls were extremely beautiful and valuable as they give importance to patterns and symmetry.

                The Asian concepts of mathematics spread towards the Western countries. What’s odd and frustrating is that Western people normally claim it theirs. It’s not that I am insulting them, but they have the bad tendency of having the mathematical concepts of the east credited to them. In our society, we should be credited on our own works honestly.