The Journey to the Center of Maths: The Minds of the East

        Great discoveries never get past the eyes of the world. In the realm of mathematics, new ideas seem to sprout out from every corner of the globe. This time the East showcased its intellectual skills under the limelight as our host, Prof. Marcus du Sautoy, hops to the other side of the ancient world.

        The Great Wall was one of the most amazing marvels of engineering in ancient China. But its intricacy was the same with their number system. I pity the slaves and workers who had worked laboriously and at the same time deciphered the numerical notations and measurements.  However, the mathematical ingenuity of the Chinese was nevertheless amazing and intriguing as it was associated with divine intervention of the cosmos. They seemed to fancy the nature of mathematical patterns and geometric progressions, and used them for practical applications and entertainment. Some of their best contributions in mathematics were cubic equations and the Remainder Theorem, which is used today in cryptography. There was this epic novel entitled “Digital Fortress,” where the theme revolves around cryptography, and I realized that I owed the Chinese some gratitude for inspiring such a brilliant work. Such mathematical advancement was never developed in the western cultures until it went into the hands and the minds of the Chinese. But they were not the only ones who made breakthroughs. Somewhere southwest of China, a culture rich with traditions gave rise to ideas that became the foundation of modern mathematics.

        India was the catalyst that would forever change the way of counting and using numbers. I was quite curious as to how they derived their number system but it was not shown in the film. Still it was astounding to behold that such a simple number system would pioneer as the universal language of mathematics. What was more interesting was that Indian mathematics was deeply intertwined to their beliefs. The birth of zero as a number and value was what completed the puzzle, and the fulfillment of “reaching nothingness and eternity” was given a concrete symbol. And to bring these concepts to the realm of logic was the brilliant vanguard of Indian mathematics-Brahmagupta. He proved the properties of zero and, with the understanding of negative numbers discovered by the Indians themselves, extended the concept of quadratic equations. Indian mathematicians like him seemed to never run out of ideas for developing and improving mathematics in their time. Though trigonometry was developed by the Greeks, they were able to improve it and made it applicable to architecture and astronomy. Another great contribution was the infinite series, which led to the derivation of the value of pi. This was a work of Madavar, another great mathematician. I was dumbfounded with his simple and logical method of using the concept of infinity to accurately hit the exact value of pi with precision. It was like using a homing missile to successfully hit an evasive target. With his triumphant discovery, he used his concept to further develop the sine formula and was able to compute angles with accuracy.  These innovations proved their intellectual worth and the respect of future generations, like me. As I observed their development, I thought there were no other civilizations that could rival their brain power. Ancient history has never been so eager to prove me wrong.

       Islam stressed the significance of knowledge throughout the Middle East. The need for intellectual familiarity soon gave rise to the development of mathematical skills among scholars. One of the scholars was Mohammad al-Kharizmi, an outstanding mathematician. He developed a new “language” in mathematics-algebra. This new system shows how numbers work and behave. I still find it a bit hard to fully understand algebra, but seeing the pieces in the field of mathematics sewn together by this mathematical thread is enough for me to comprehend the strength of their connections.

       Three civilizations, many cultures, one common field. The West was greatly influenced by their mathematical views and concepts and one man, by the name of Fibonacci, spread it around Europe like wildfire, though it was rejected at the first few times. As the influence of the West waned, the Eastern mathematics was slowly accepted and used throughout. It’s amazing to see the development of the concepts slowly merging in both sides of the globe as past is overlapped by succeeding generations of ideals. Like the chaotic turmoil of fire and water colliding as an island is being formed, minds and ideals clashed over the decades until a solid foundation in modern mathematics was formed. And I, for once, was in awe of it.