Legacies to be Treasured

            Mathematical extent and progress had already gone far from man’s earliest inventions to today’s advanced technologies in which human lives depend. In the second episode of the documentary film, the Story of Maths, entitled, The Genius of the East, Marcus du Sautoy talked about the continuation of the history of mathematics after the ancient Greece fell into decline. He presented the great breakthroughs, discoveries and ultimately, the untold stories of the mathematics of the East which included the mathematics of the three Eastern civilizations namely China, India and the Middle East which were not given due credits and were overshadowed by the West. He then jumped and discussed a little bit of the Italian mathematics on the last duration of the film.

            As du Sautoy’s tour continued to the East, he visited China first, where the legendary Great Wall stood high. As his exploration continued, he discovered that the heart of ancient Chinese mathematics and great feats of engineering lay on incredibly simple foundations. The first use of a decimal place value system originated in China but still, the concept of zero didn’t exist during their time. Early Chinese people’s widespread fascination on patterns made them develop an early version of Sudoku or the magic square. Their beliefs in the mystical powers of numbers also prevailed up to the present time.

Mathematics was central to the life of the emperor and to the running of the estate.  It played a huge role in managing how the Emperor slept his way through the imperial harem to ensure the most favourable succession. Du Sautoy also learned how internet cryptography encoded numbers using a branch of mathematics that has its origins in ancient Chinese work on equations. The corrupt emperor Qin Jiushao’s true passion in mathematics was also mentioned. Du Sautoy concluded that the rich mathematical tradition of China changed the face of maths forever.

For years, the search for the missing link in mathematics continued until the early Indian people found it. It was zero and it was invented in India. The host cited several reasons for the discovery of this new number, which included origins in their cultural and belief like nothingness and eternity. Brahmagupta’s essential properties of zero were also introduced. The Indians also made sense of the impossible through their discoveries of the new concepts of infinity, negative numbers and most of all, trigonometry.

Du Sautoy then travelled to the Middle East, the home of the Islamic scholars. In here was the invention of the new language called algebra emerged and the solutions to cubic equations evolved. The vibrant intellectual culture flourished in this nation as intellectual animosity was encouraged among their scholars. Hindu-Arabic numerals’ effectiveness in calculations was remarkable. He also talked a bit about the House of Wisdom.

Finally, he examined the spread of Eastern knowledge to the West through mathematicians such as Leonardo Fibonacci, the creator of the Fibonacci sequence. He also stated the life of Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia. Du Dautoy ended the episode leaving the viewers with thoughts about the mathematical evolutionary continuation.

Truly, the ground breaking works of the ancient Eastern civilizations had reached its peak more than that of Europe. The unwavering explosion of mathematical thoughts and ideas followed the discoveries pioneered by the people from the East. These innovations became basis of the ease and accessibility of our mathematics today.

All of these became parts of the development of what is mathematics really, a universal language that is constantly occurring. These legacies were to be valued and honoured by the people of this generation and the next generations to come.

As for this episode, I salute the eloquent punch lines of the host with regards to mathematics that would motivate the viewers to appreciate more its beauty and mystery as well as its advantages to mankind. The exquisite illustrations of the topics being discussed by the host were amazing. The background music and effects clearly expressed the nature of the cultures of the different civilizations.

It would be very hard to produce a lively and engaging documentary film that would tackle the history of mathematics but this film made it very possible. That is why I could highly recommend this for non-mathematical and mathematical audiences alike.