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posted by Fnord666 on Friday September 22 2017, @10:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-about-the-Greeks? dept.

India's contributions to mathematics:

It should come as no surprise that the first recorded use of the number zero, recently discovered to be made as early as the 3rd or 4th century, happened in India. Mathematics on the Indian subcontinent has a rich history going back over 3,000 years and thrived for centuries before similar advances were made in Europe, with its influence meanwhile spreading to China and the Middle East.

As well as giving us the concept of zero, Indian mathematicians made seminal contributions to the study of trigonometry, algebra, arithmetic and negative numbers among other areas. Perhaps most significantly, the decimal system that we still employ worldwide today was first seen in India.

With such a significant technical lead, how did they fall behind?


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by maggotbrain on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:31AM (3 children)

    by maggotbrain (6063) on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:31AM (#571983)

    From an historical perspective, it is definitely interesting learning where concepts originated. However, cultures come and go and ascribing a breakthrough like the concept of zero, or the fundamentals of algebra to one particular culture or nation seems like a petty waste. It's like rooting for your favorite football team on Sunday. *shrug*.
    To answer the OPs banal question, they probably didn't allocate enough resources to libraries and spent too much on building wonders while weakening their infrastructure and military. Thanks Sid Meier. :-/

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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday September 23 2017, @05:50AM (2 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday September 23 2017, @05:50AM (#572008) Journal

    No, someone pissed Gandhi off and he went all thermonuclear (thanks for that too, Sid!).

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 23 2017, @11:38AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 23 2017, @11:38AM (#572074) Journal
      Nuclear weaponry is the future [reddit.com]! How can you not see that?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @04:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @04:40PM (#572129)

      Admittedly, being SO friendly and warm and fuzzy... sort of spells out what a nuclear family is, right?

      Besides, if you turn your neighbors into fallout, you can't really have any disputes with them if they have moved on to irradiate some unoccupied territory.