THE UNIVERSAL ROLE OF MATHEMATICS

“The mathematics of rhythm is universal. It doesn't belong to any particular culture.”
                                                                                                                        - John McLaughlin

            In the second installment entitled “The Genius of the East” of the BBC series, The Story of Maths, the focus was on the journey of mathematics and its growth particularly in the East and its influences in transforming the mathematics of the West. Though it is true that the journey of mathematics began in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, it did not end there. During the hard times faced in the West like the decline of ancient Greece followed by the decline of mathematical progress, mathematics has just begun to burn bright in the East. This episode shows us that mathematics is everywhere at any given time. It also shows us that not only the West but also the East has made great discoveries in the field but the only difference is that the East’s story just remained untold. This visit to the East will highlight the intelligence and innovation of the mathematicians of the East and give them the credit they very well deserve. And in the end one can see that mathematics was not one particular person or culture’s discovery or gift to the world, it was the end product of the shared ideas of different cultures all over the world.

            In this episode, Marcus du Sautoy’s first stop was at China specifically at the Great Wall. This breath-taking feat of engineering, which is also China’s greatest line of defense, required the Chinese to have knowledge of angles, elevation, distances and even the amount of material needed to build the wall. This realization motivated their need of mathematics to build their empire. The ancient Chinese became the first people to use the decimal place value system. This helped them perform calculations quickly and this also became the basis and foundation of how we count today though they have no concept of zero. It was in China that the mathematics had a vital role in running the state and the court of the emperor through taxation, weights, measures and money. They believed that numbers hold cosmic and religious significance and they used numbers and mathematical precision to help the emperor make his decisions. Then they created a calendar with the use of geometric progression to help the emperor sleep with different women; this later became the best political progression. They also contributed the Chinese Remainder Theorem and the codes and equations of programming were also of Chinese origin. The Golden Age of Chinese Mathematics was during the time of Qin Jiushao who was infamously known as the corrupt imperial administrator whose true passion was mathematics. He found out how to solve cubic equations and developed a method of solving simultaneous linear equations which was not yet discovered in the west. 

            Du Sautoy’s next stop was at India where the greatest gift to mathematics was from, the mathematical numbers which are close to what we call the universal language. They also introduced the number zero (0) as a new numeral and a number for calculation through their belief of “nothingness to eternity” and that nothingness is the goal of humanity. India was also the home of Brahmagupta who introduced the rules on calculating with zero, Bhaskara II who introduced that division of a number by zero would yield infinity, and Madhava who used the concept of infinity to find the precise value of pi and ended up with an accurate approximation. The concepts of negative numbers and positive and negative solutions were also introduced. They developed theories in trigonometry and used sin function to calculate distances.

            His next stop was at Morocco, India, where Hindu numerals revolutionized mathematics and later became known as Hindu-Arabic numerals.

            Eventually he ended up in Italy. Through the trade between the East and West, the West became exposed to eastern knowledge. Leonardo Fibonacci was one of them. He acquired a new number system from the East and introduced the Fibonacci sequence which was discovered from a riddle on the mating of rabbits. The Fibonacci sequence then became the description of growth in nature and was known as nature’s favourite number. Then came 12 year old, Tartaglia, who was able to create a formula that would solve cubic equations. In Bologna, Italy, mathematical competitions were introduced as a sport.

            This episode showed me that mathematics can reach even the farthest place on earth. Mathematics has no end as more ideas are being added unto it, further improving it to meet the future’s needs. It is not solely one person’s accomplishment but it is the work of all cultures. Each culture’s contributions to the field of mathematics has further advanced it forward into the new era; it further defined and shaped the very idea of mathematics. Were it not for the past innovations of other mathematicians, one cannot develop or create new innovations. Mathematics is the thread that connects all the people in the world no matter what race or culture they come from. There will always be a need to give answers to questions, to solve a problem and to make sense of everything around us. Wherever you go, mathematics is used to capture the complete picture of things, to make sense of these things, to further comprehend them and preserve them. It made weaving the connections of other people’s works to others possible. It makes sense and connects everything we know to address our needs and questions in the future. Its journey from place to place leads to connections between those two places that only the language of mathematics could make sense of. And everyone in all parts of the world benefit and make use of these connections.

            This video, however, could be improved with the use of subtitles and better presentation of the mathematicians depicted. Through this, the students will be able to place a name to the methods and images we use and see today. We will be able to know who to give credit to and who to admire. As mathematics is universal, great mathematicians come not only from a specific place but they can come from everywhere because something as fundamental as mathematics touches each and every person in the world whether they know it or not.