The Wonders In-Between

Our lives revolve around Mathematics, there's no doubt about it. We use it every single day in every aspect of our lives. Some people including me sometimes, fail to see the deep connection we have with it...

When the great Mathematical revolution of Greece slowed down and seemed to have lost the fuel that powered it and went to go for a pit stop, it was a whole different case for the Eastern civilizations as they were just beginning to explore and experience the vast foundations and concepts of Mathematics. I didn't even know that somehow, the Mathematical knowledge of the East had influenced the west until I've watched this documentary.

Marcus (yes, first-name basis), brought us to the fences of the East, where he took us back to the early civilizations of China, India, part of Middle East and then back again to the West, where Italy lies.

In the very first scene, Marcus can be seen standing on the Great Wall of China. Wow, he sure did travel a lot when he filmed and hosted the complete series. I was amazed when the camera focused the Great Wall and at the same time, filled with envy.

What's striking about the ancient Chinese was, they believed that numbers possess mystical powers. This possibly explains why there are always a list of lucky numbers in the Chinese Zodiac. They also created an early version of the game Sudoku, which they called The Magic Square, as a proof of their love for Mathematics.

I find it really funny though, that the Chinese emperor was like a puppet of Numbers. He relied on it so much, that he even applied geometric precision to make sure that he slept with all his women in a given amount of time. But like him, we are also influenced by Math, even if sometimes we don't see nor feel it.

Now I understand why there's always that perception that Asians, particularly Chinese, are very good in Math. Because even then, they had Mathematical schools that trained them and everyone was really encouraged to learn Math.

Next, the civilization of India. I think that among the three Eastern civilizations that I got to know in this part of the series, India had the most intense Math tradition. It created a huge impact in the world of Mathematics and their recognition of zero as a number, also helped in a lot of Mathematical innovations.

Like the Chinese, they treated the numbers not just as symbols for quantity, but as abstract elements. This led them to upgrade their Mathematical language, discovering the most hated part of Math by some people, the existence of the unknowns x and y.

I was also amazed that given their limited resources and lack of high-technology materials, they had computed the approximate distance of the Sun from the Earth when it's creating a right angle with the moon. This was possible due to their discovery of the sine function.

As Marcus told the great story of the East, I was inspired by some of the words he uttered. He said that the power of Mathematics is to make sense of the impossible and that in adding infinitely number of fractions, one takes infinitely many steps, eventually reaching its destination. These can be applied in real life. By wanting something so bad, for example, your goals and dreams, one can believe that nothing in life is impossible if you just work really hard for it.

A significant person from India, Madhava, who searched for the exact value of Pi and finally found it after deep investigations and much hard work. He discovered it 200 years earlier than the Mathematicians of the West. Unfortunately, he was not credited for his discovery and it was claimed by the West many years later. I was so amazed by the Western civilizations on the first film, but now that I have also learned more about the Eastern civilizations, I am more astounded with it.

Going to the middle east, the host told us all about the Islamic empire and how their lives were also influenced by Mathematics. It was just so overwhelming that everyone was so involved with this subject even in the earliest times. Tartaglia was also introduced - he answered the lingering questions of Ancient China, India and the Arab world about the cubic equation by trying to find all the formulas to solve all types of this equation. I was just so sad that he was betrayed by Cadano, who took all the credit for the formulas he created and spent so much time on. I realized that even in the field of Mathematics, the sharp knives of betrayal and deception exist and wound people.

The west later on acquired the language of the East, using a lot of their concepts to help improve their lives and encourage more improvements and innovations.

There were a lot of other significant mathematicians mentioned throughout the documentary like Qin Jiushao, who solved the problems of quadratic equation; Brahmagupta, who discovered the essential properties of zero; Al khwarizmi, who is the one behind Algebra and Fibonacci, famously known for the Fibonacci's sequence. These people have created a mark not just in the history of Mathematics, but in the lives of the people from the ancient civilizations and even of today.

I have learned so much by just watching the two parts of the series. I'm both excited and thrilled to know more about Mathematics in the remaining parts of the documentary, The Story of Maths.