To be Continued...

The journey of mathematics is never-ending and it is a surge to develop and enrich the fundamentals into more precise, simpler and clearer way possible. Its journey has passed through the eastern world and through the western part of the globe where it is critically synthesized.

The Chinese provided vast changes in the world of mathematics through their discoveries that was adopted and used globally. Ancient Chinese developed the first place value system which was made from intricate symbols to give credit to their mathematical prowess, critical thinking and innovativeness.

There is a wide fascination of numbers in ancient China. Chinese often have these beliefs in the importance and value of numbers. Each number would correspond a certain history, value, charm and meaning to them. Manipulations of numerical values enable an empire to be triumphant in battle, in economy, and in governance. Calculated war strategies, structural engineering of fortresses and walls, developing a quadratic and cubic formula used in precise measurements, geometric successions, and rational equations.

India’s first mathematical gift lay in the world of numbers. It has been suggested that the Indians acquired their knowledge upon numbers through Chinese merchants. We may never know how the Indians made their own counting system and symbols. What we do know is that they refined and perfected it creating the ancestors of the nine numerals we use across the world today. By virtue of this, many rank the Indian system of counting as one of the greatest intellectual innovations of all time.

The Indians came up with the one of greatest discovery that brought meaning to many mathematical philosophies. Unlike Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and China, the Indians gave birth to the number that was just a myth, undiscovered, shows no more than a place holder and a graphical state of “nothing” – they unraveled the existence of the number zero “0”. It is a number for calculation, for investigation, a brilliant conceptual leap that would revolutionize mathematics. 

The Indians provided properties of zero and its infiniteness. Moreover, they also found new sets of numbers called negative numbers. Indians treat numbers as not only for counting and measuring. It is way more its definition. It is an abstract entity waiting to be decoded and used in many forms. Also, breakthroughs in the quadratic equations were made. It is said that one can solve quadratics using two variables and an equation as such has two solutions, one of which could be a negative. A new language in mathematics was made. New representations of the variables were introduced the one similar to what transpires to all mathematical texts and journal nowadays.

In addition, trigonometry was brought to life by the Indians. Trigonometry gives a concrete and quantitative explanation of geometry. An ideology in geometry and trigonometry paved the way of calculating vast distances of discoveries like the sun’s distance from the Earth.

The ratio of the circle’s circumference to its diameter, called Pi. One of the most important numerical figures in mathematics. This was once discovered by Indians and many approximations were brought up to estimate its value.

In Persia, a mathematical language, Hindu Arabic, was made. And algebra was introduced. It is a way to study the behavior of numbers. A universal code in which whatever number you feed to the concepts of it, it will work well with it. The abstract language of Algebra delved deeper and explained the effectiveness of the quadratic equations in problem solving. Moreover, the developments in cubic equations were also made. Innovations in cubic equations continued its quest and flourished all over Europe.

The western world derived all their knowledge in mathematics from the east. From, China, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Arabs, the European gained the ideas that were once published, credited and known to their own names and reputation rather than to give tribute to the ones in the East who have done it centuries before they knew it. The Europeans must build and patent their own discoveries on mathematical philosophies, beliefs and innovations made from their prior findings.

Mathematics is an important aspect of life. It is the center of all applied sciences and technologies. Through its breakthroughs over the years, people are enlightened by its simpler approach on phenomenon and events that are seemingly complex but with the aid of mathematics, it is decoded and synthesized into chunks of information useful to the growth and development of human life. As an ultimate tool of precision, mathematics paves the way in obtaining solutions to our problems through precise definitions, representation of ideas in countless of methods, introducing symbols and formulas, pictures and graphics, and giving a comprehension of the complexities inherent in apparently quite simple situations.