SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday September 24 2017, @10:53PM
I disagree. Floods are a universal human experience, even in the driest parts of the world (such as the Atacama Desert [wikipedia.org]). Oral tales frequently exaggerate events good and bad that humans experience. For example, there are a number of stories of Coyote stealing/eating the Sun and Moon. Should we then look for planet or star-sized canines?
Further, while we know that sea level rise has happened over the past 14k years, it has happened slowly. I doubt, aside from flooding events like the flooding of the Black Sea, that anyone has cared much about such things. They certainly wouldn't have much trouble staying ahead of the water, which might rise a centimeter a year for ten thousand years.