Another Face of Discovery

            The mathematical discoveries in the west has been known and was widely recognized yet the great contributions of the mathematicians in the east that has changed the image of maths was not given due credit. The second episode showed the continuous growth of mathematics in the east while development in the discovery of maths festered in the ancient Greece. People would likely say that mathematics is ironic to its definition as it is defined as one of the languages of the universe yet very difficult to comprehend. Whether people would like it or not, mathematics will always be a part of our lives and should be recognized for playing a big part in the progress and development of the world today.

            In his second adventure, Marcus du Sautoy first visited China and investigated how mathematics became vital in building the Great Wall for their protection against their opponents as the Chinese empire increases. The Chinese were also noted for they are the ones who first use the decimal place number system. They realized that they had to make calculations on the distance, angles of elevation and the amount of material needed to build the wall which stretches a thousand miles. Their belief in the magical powers of numbers before still exists today as the number four represents bad luck and number eight symbolizes good fortune. The Chinese were also able to develop the magic square, the Chinese early version of Sudoku which shows their fascination in mathematical patterns. Marcus also learned how the emperor manages to sleep with 121 women (an empress, three senior consorts, nine wives, 27 concubines, 81 slaves) in 15 nights to obtain the best imperial succession which also shows an example of geometric progression. The Chinese were also famous for the Chinese remainder theorem to measure planetary movement which has also a bigger contribution to the modern era, internet cryptography.  

        Du Sautoy visited the country that has a very big contribution to the language of the mathematics, the jewel of the crown, India. Known for its rich mathematical tradition, India contributed largely to the development of mathematics. One of their important breakthrough is the invention of the number zero which represents nothingness, as they believe that nothingness is the ultimate goal of humanity. The Indians were also noted for their discoveries in the theory of trigonometry and the use of sine function that has been used nowadays to calculate distances. The concept of infinity for pi and their discovery of negative numbers which they termed as ‘debts’ were also shown.

            Next stop is in the Middle East where Al-Khwarizmi introduced algebra and their search for the solution of cubic equations. Du Sautoy ended his adventure to Italy as he explains that through trading the Eastern knowledge of mathematics became influential to the West.  The Fibonacci series which was created by Leonardo Fibonacci. The Fibonacci numbers was also discovered through mating rabbits which could also be found in any growth in nature (flower’s petals, pineapple segments, snail’s shell etc.). The story of Tartaglia in Bologna, Italy captivated my attention where he was betrayed by a mathematician in Milan named Cardano, his discovery of solving cubic equations was never given due credit as it became the first great mathematical discovery in the modern Europe.

        The second episode allowed to unlock the mysteries behind the theories and mathematical notions that we are using nowadays. Discoveries in which no one could put into oblivion. The episode also points out that through the influence of culture and religion in the different parts of the world became one of the basis for the evolution mathematical breakthroughs. However, in the technical aspect, I would recommend the use of subtitles for this episodes and the use of visual representations to understand more the concepts being stated by the presenter.

         I deem that as the complication of the concepts and ideas in mathematics arises it depicts that the world also becomes complicated that mathematics should go directly proportional to world’s complexity to be able to find solutions in the increasing problems that involves numbers that we are about to encounter in the future as our society advances.

       Mathematics has always played a substantial role, without it, there would be no architecture, engineering nor chemistry. It comes in different faces yet has one ultimate objective to become a universal that will aid in catalysing the ideal change we wanted to see on Earth.