It's not only the ancient Western
culture that has created the platform for practice of mathematics. On the other
half of the world, our very own Asian ancestors in China and India have also
made sense of quantities and patterns in real life. While the Greek society was
falling into the Dark Ages, a new dawn mathematical discoveries was rising in
the Orient.
The documentary continues to share
to us the enthralling tale of math in a lively and accessible way. Compared to
its previous episode, fewer cheap animations were used to help portray
mathematical accounts. Moreover, it never failed to discuss arithmetical ideas
without the interesting details of the lives of great mathematicians. Engaging,
enlightening, entertaining, it allows the viewers to witness the central
importance of mathematics; creating this discipline to be one of mankind's
greatest achievements.
The highlights of the film were
about the history of numbers in Asia. They had served both numinous and
practical purposes for the ancient Chinese. Besides of their complicated system
of numerology, they were the first to use decimals for calculations, noticed
patterns that are now used in modern internet codes, and projected solutions to
cubic equations just before they were explained by Newton.
On the other hand,
the Indian intellects were first to give us the idea of true zero, negative
numbers and infinity. Further, they advanced the study of trigonometry– calculating
large distances like the distance of the sun and moon from the earth. Arab
mathematicians left a valuable creation in addition to algebra: the
Hindu-Arabic numbers that we actually use today.
From the East, we were brought back
again to the West. Who could have thought that the ever famous Fibonacci
adopted Eastern mathematical principles? We know his discovery, the Fibonacci sequence
as the numbers of nature, since it unsurprisingly appears everywhere such as
the pattern of arrangement of petals in flowers and the spiral shell of a
snail.
It is dignifying to know that we (Asians) also have our own ancestors who contributed to Math history. Only proves that we have the mathematical ability within. Only needs to be enhanced.....
ReplyDeleteI do think so too. Asians have gone a long way because of their discoveries in some mathematical aspects. They used the idea of Math in developing the Orient into a large trading continent. We can set those famous business tycoons as examples.
ReplyDelete"Mathematics is a natural combination of invention and discovery." True and its also true some of the math discoveries are from Asia but I just wonder why West become so far superior than Asia. Well things become like that but Asians really are genius and great.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to know that people in the east particularly Asians were having great contributions in the field of Mathematics.
ReplyDeleteMathematics came from the contributions of eastern and western mathematicians wherein it became what it is today. People may not recognize it, but as an avid Math learner, those contributions is indeed a great help.
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