A Better World Vision through Mathematics

Name: Danica Mae A. Manubag

A Better World Vision through Mathematics

            From our position in the universe, to land and seas, to inventions and advanced technologies, up to everything we see, Mathematics became a huge leap for new discovery and better living. With the earliest discoveries of the Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Greeks, people became aware of the basic principles of counting, measuring and redefining the whole concept of the universe with the use of the language that has been spoken with patterns beneficial to rediscover the secrets of the world. As with the eastern part of the world, Mathematics reach dynamic new heights, it became the basis of learning that may able to transform the west with their mathematical beliefs and concepts.

Great Wall of China, built for the protection of the country’s growing empire, used Mathematics to calculate for the elevation of the structure as well as the amount of materials needed for the construction of the wall that by-far gave China its shield and safeguard. Chinese’s use of small bamboo rods arranged in column has been long used at their time in representing place value like units, tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. Because of their widespread fascination with numbers, they represented odd numbers as male and even numbers as female. They even had this number which they thought brings bad luck, number four, and a number that had brought good fortune, number 8. At their time, they didn’t have the concept of zero; instead they use spaces to represent it. Chinese were also known for their fun puzzle called magic square showing mathematical pattern whether it be vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The great role of Mathematics to China can be observed in running the emperor’s court. His decision was based on calendar and movement of planets which made the astronomers, in their era, the prized people. Geometric progression was also observed in their time, especially in the case of the emperor where he has to sleep with 121 girls consisting of the empress, senior courts, wives, concubines and slaves to the space of 15 days. Mathematics also became a huge part of running the state in the fields of taxation and use of money. Carl Friedrich Gauss became the prince of mathematics because of his method or system of solving equations. Remainder theorem was also discovered in their time and was used in the calculations of planetary movement. In the 13^th century, it became the golden age of Mathematics since it had been a part of their curriculum. A Chinese fierce warrior and scoundrel, Qin Jiushao, who had his life on line because of the anomalies he did on his reign has been in love and had his true passion in Mathematics. He used to solve quadratic equations in a more complicated degree of 3 (cubic equation) through approximation method, same as what Isaac Newton used in his time, which gave him a big significance in the world of Mathematics. The only problem with this was that he only gave the approximate solution to the problem. Since Mathematics is an exact science, his works were just considered as a guide towards finding the proof and accurate solution to the problem.

            Indians have also been given high remarks for their contributions in Mathematics. Indian system of counting has been considered one of the greatest intellectual innovations of all time, and has the closest concept to the universal language we are having today. Indians have polished the nine numerals used across the world. But there was still missing and it was them who introduced it to the world. Engraved in a small temple in Central India was the controversial number of all times, 0, which explains the concept of something to nothing and was called shunya in their time. It was said that the concept of nothingness came from their culture specifically their religion. Brahmagupta pointed out the properties of zero that is still used up to now, 1+0=1, 1-0=1, 1*0=0 added by Bhaskara’s theory that 1/0=infinity. Indians imposed that numbers are abstract entities and not just for mere counting and for measuring anything. The concept of infinity has become used by Indians to appreciate and give sense of the impossible. Because of the concept of abstract Mathematics, Brahmagupta thought that a quadratic equation can have two solutions, where one could be negative. Indians also studied about sin function to find the ratios of the opposite side to the hypotenuse. Eastern peoples’ contribution to Mathematics was not given full credit a concrete example of it was that it was recorded in books and was taught in schools that Leibniz discovered the pi (ratio of the circle’s circumference to its diameter) but it was actually Madhava, a mathematical leader of the Indians, discovered it two centuries earlier.

            In the 17^th century, Prophet Mohammed’s leading provided power to the Islamic empire extending to India up to Morocco in the west. House of Wisdom owned by Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi, a great library and a learning centre became a learning provider for the subjects astronomy, medicine, chemistry, zoology and mathematics. Because of them, we still had the mathematical beliefs and concepts for the ancient Greek, Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Indians. Mathematics has also provided Islam their time of prayer and even the direction of the Mecca to pray towards. Al-Khwarizmi, known for his book,  “Al-jabr W’al-muqabala” or calculation by restoration and reduction, taught us the concept of algebra which shows the patterns and behavior of numbers. Omar Khayyam then solved the general solution to cubic equations.  Because of the discoveries that Eastern had provided, Mathematics advanced to a better, higher rate. An Italian, Fibonacci, promoted a new number system that he called the Fibonacci series by using the mating of rabbits. These numbers are said to be nature’s favorite numbers since it correspond to how most things multiply and reproduce. It has the numbers 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 and so on. In Bologna around 16^th century, cubic equation have been their topic of interest. Mathematicians exposed that some of the mathematical problems are insolvable. It was defied by Tartaglia who dedicated his life in Mathematics. He solved cubic problems in one equation. A desperate mathematician, Cadan, asked Tartaglia to reveal the secret for the solution of the cubic equation, but it was withheld with one condition – which is to keep the formula in secrecy  and it should never go out in public. But Cadano discussed Tartaglia’s findings to his student, Ferrari. Ferrari used Tartaglia’s equation to solve a more complicated equation, in powers of 4. Trataglia was never given credit in his own solution vowed to be kept as a secret.

            A lot more Mathematicians indulged in studying the different concepts in Mathematics and dedicated their lives discovering new ways of improving life with the help of it.

            Volume 2 of the Story of Maths showed us interaction between Eastern and Western part of the country using Mathematics as their universal language. It showed us a different concept of how Math build up the society and formed the current way of processing and organizing things like taxes, architecture, planets, time and the allocation of money. It enlightened us to some of the worlds’ biggest secrets – the distance of the Earth, the mapping of places, latitude, longitude – and gave us precise measurements beneficial for what purpose it may serve. We also learned and a appreciate how a simple number in Mathematics, 0, gave our ancient Mathematicians a time to think, discover and dig deep about Math. Volume 2 personally inspired me to become observant and relate my learnings to everything I do. It became my pattern to understand the concepts I find difficult in Math and apply it, not just to get good grades but to rediscover and relearn the concepts connected to it. With this volume, we can see that Eastern people made outstanding contribution to the current ideals we are learning. Furthermore, we met the geniuses of the East who strengthened and made Mathematics as firm and stable as rock.