Marcus Du Sautoy is making a series for the Beebs on India's contributions to Math [thanks Ramya]. You've probably heard the popular regurgitation popular among Indians: 'India invented zero'. Do you know why and when? [In Our Time] Apparently, the concept of zero owes much to the ancient Indian obsession with Nothingness, the religious and philosophical notion of pre-existence.
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« Life? | Main | A young person's guide to Places »
India's contributions to Math
Category: Prime Stream
Posted on: July 11, 2007 6:59 AM, by Selva
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Another of the great contributions of India is the study of grammar. The grammar of Panini is apparently the first formal exposition.
To formulate a grammar, there needs to be the concept of a null. A null suffix, for example.
Is there any historical connection between the mathematical zero and the grammatical null
both arising in India?
Posted by: TomS | July 11, 2007 7:56 AM
Have you checked out the In Our Time episode entirely devoted to Indian Maths?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20061214.shtml
Posted by: csrster | July 11, 2007 8:46 AM
>Is there any historical connection between the mathematical zero and the grammatical null both arising in India?
That's new to me. Coming from the south of India, I am more familiar with Tamil (a classical language comparable to greek and sanskrit, but unlike the others still alive and spoken).
Posted by: selva
| July 11, 2007 10:26 AM