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It is not misleading. Most Mathematical concepts originated from Hindu Mathematicians. For example, the definition of "Infinity" from the Isha Upanishad (Writt

• libeclipse 10y ago
  Define "most". Edit: I don't mean to take away from your point that Hindu mathematicians contrubuted a significant amount, but I think the word most here is misleading.
  • shripadk 10y ago
    I have explained it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13642268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13642268
• jacobolus 10y ago
  With all due respect to the many wonderful Indian mathematicians throughout history, this.. > Most Mathematical concepts originated from Hindu Mathematicians .. is nonsense. For instance, many core tools of mathematics, measuring systems, astronomy, etc. were developed by Sumerians and Akkadians living in Mesopotamia in 4000–1000 BCE. If you’re curious about it, I recommend this recent book, http://amzn.com/069109182X http://amzn.com/069109182X Other important advances have been made by Chinese, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Italians, English, French, Russians, Germans, Hungarians, Americans, ...
  • shripadk 10y ago
    > .. is nonsense. For instance, many core tools of mathematics, measuring systems, astronomy, etc. were developed by Sumerians and Akkadians living in Mesopotamia in 4000–1000 BCE. It is not "nonsense". Your knowledge of Hindu astronomy is limited. I suggest you to read up on Hindu Astronomy and Measuring systems here: http://www.crystalinks.com/indiastronomy.html http://www.crystalinks.com/indiastronomy.html "Ancient India's contributions in the field of astronomy are well known and well documented. The earliest references to astronomy are found in the Rig Veda, which are dated 2000 BC. During next 2500 years, by 500 AD, ancient Indian astronomy has emerged as an important part of Indian studies and its affect is also seen in several treatises of that period. In some instances, astronomical principles were borrowed to explain matters, pertaining to astrology, like casting of a horoscope. Apart from this linkage of astronomy with astrology in ancient India, science of astronomy continued to develop independently, and culminated into original findings, like: The calculation of occurrences of eclipses Determination of Earth's circumference Theorizing about the theory of gravitation Determining that sun was a star and determination of number of planets under our solar system There are astronomical references of chronological significance in the Vedas. Some Vedic notices mark the beginning of the year and that of the vernal equinox in Orion. This was the case around 4500 BC. Fire altars, with astronomical basis, have been found in the third millennium cities of India. Yajnavalkya (perhaps 1800 BC) advanced a 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon. A text on Vedic astronomy that has been dated to 1350 BC, was written by Lagadha." Read up on Kalpa and Yuga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpa_(aeon)#Hinduism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpa_(aeon)#Hinduism and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga and the "Hindu units of Time": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_units_of_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_units_of_time Also read this book on Hindu cosmology and astronomy: https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/the-theogony-of-the-hindoos-with-their-systems-of-philosophy-and-cosmogony-an-essay/author/count-m-bjornstjerna/ https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/the-theogony-of-t... You can find an archive of the entire book for free here: https://archive.org/stream/theogonyofhindoo00bjrn/theogonyofhindoo00bjrn_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/theogonyofhindoo00bjrn/theogonyof... Some quotes from the book: "The antiquity of the Hindoo Astronomy has long been a disputed point among the learned of Europe. Cassini* Bailly,^ Gentil,* and Play/air^ maintain, that there are Hindoo observations extant which must have been made more than 3000 years before Christ, and which evince even then a very high degree of astronomical science." "Davis, who has also taken up this question, calculates that the celebrated Hindoo astronomer Parasura, judging from the observations made by him, must have lived 1391 years before Christ (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 288), and consequently had read in the divine book of the heavenly firmament, long before the Chaldees, the Arabs, and the Greeks." "The religion of the Hindoos, which is called the Brahmin, is the most ancient of the present systems of religion upon the earth, and probably one of the oldest ever known ; in this respect, therefore, it is deserving of a high degree of attention. The doctrine is based upon the books of religion held sacred by the Hindoos, called Vedas, written in the ancient Sanscrit, which bears the same rela- tion to the present dialects of the Sanscrit, the Hindostanee, Bengalee, Tamul, &c, as the Gothic does to the Swedish, and the Latin to the French and Italian, (fhe Hindoos maintain that the Vedas (four books) are contemporary with the creation, and were revealed by Brahma himself) The sacred volume begins with these words : — " (There is only one God, Brahma, omnipotent, eternal, omnipresent, the great soul, of which all other gods are but parts\" Nevertheless the Vedas do not address their hymns to this only God, but to things created by him, as the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, fire, &c. ; so that this religion, although Monotheistic in its fundamental principle, is tinctured with a kind of Sabceism, which probably constituted the early religion at the time when the ancestors of the Hindoos still dwelt in that country from which they came to India (from 2500 to 3000 years before Christ). The Vedas also contain a Cosmogony, the most ancient that is known." Also, please don't ignore the fact that most of Hindu knowledge of Mathematics, Astronomy, Science, Philosophy or Religion was transferred by word of mouth for millennia. It was only around 2000-1500 BCE that this knowledge was transferred to scriptures which were written in Devanagari (Sanskrit). Most of these scriptures did not survive, but the knowledge did, because of the stress on rote learning of Mantras (which apart from extolling God and God's virtues also included Scientific/Mathematical concepts). There are many Mantras that have been passed on for generations but the actual scripture is lost. The problem is that the West had not (and still has not) translated a lot of the Sanskrit scriptures (maybe due to lack of interest) that exist today. The Government of India had setup an ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) to look into translating these scriptures and excavating a lot of ancient cities but due to immense corruption not much progress has happened in this regard. Look up the excavation videos of Submerged City of Dwaraka and why it was abruptly stopped (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVIsjx5X3QM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVIsjx5X3QM).